Disney's success owes less to its cinematic brilliance than to shrewd acquisitions
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY trades in stories of transformation. “Cinderella” tells the tale of a maligned servant turned beloved princess. “Mulan” stars a young woman who becomes a fearsome warrior. “Beauty and the Beast” follows a selfish prince, cursed to take the form of a loathsome creature, who turns back into a royal.
Disney’s own story over the past decade has resembled a fairy-tale. In 2010 the firm claimed 14% of revenue from the North American box office, and became the first film studio to release two $1bn pictures—“Toy Story 3” and “Alice In Wonderland”—in a single year. By 2019 its share of the market had more than doubled, to 34%, according to Comscore, an analytics company .
Last year the studio dominated the box office like a comic-book superhero. It was responsible for eight of the ten highest-grossing films of the year: “Avengers: Endgame”, “The Lion King”, “Frozen II”, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, “Captain Marvel”, “Toy Story 4”, “Aladdin” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”. Seven of them took in over $1bn worldwide . All told, Disney raked in more than $10bn around the world, smashing the record of $7.6bn it set in 2016.
The company’s success owes less to its cinematic brilliance than to shrewd acquisitions. Marvel Studios, which Disney bought in 2009, has produced a string of enormously successful superhero films. “Avengers: Endgame”, released in April, earned a whopping $2.8bn worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in history. Pixar, which Disney acquired in 2006, was responsible for “Toy Story 4”, the sixth-highest grossing picture last year.
Such eye-watering figures have no doubt caused consternation elsewhere in Hollywood. Warner Bros, Disney’s closest rival, captured just 14% of the North American market in 2019; some industry observers worry about a lack of competition. But 2019 was an unusually brilliant year for Disney. It is unlikely to scale such heights again soon.
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