Universal Pictures Overtakes Disney as Highest-Grossing Studio at 2023 Box Office

Disney will have to settle for second place in 2023, as the studio missed out on the top spot to its longtime rival and competitor.

Universal Pictures emerged as the top-grossing studio of the 2023 box office season, generating $4.907 billion in worldwide ticket sales from its diverse lineup of 24 films, including hits like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “M3GAN.” This victory is noteworthy as it signifies the first instance since 2015 that Disney did not claim the global box office throne.

Disney, which secured second place in market share, amassed $4.827 billion globally with 17 new releases, such as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” and “The Little Mermaid.”

In a press statement, Disney acknowledged the $80 million difference and attributed it, in part, to releasing seven fewer movies than Universal in 2023. The statement also emphasized Disney’s lead in the number of titles within the top 10, boasting four of the highest-grossing global releases and three of the biggest domestic releases of the year.

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However, for the first time in a considerable duration, Disney did not secure a spot among the top three movies, as those accolades were claimed by Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” ($1.4 billion) and Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.3 billion) and “Oppenheimer” ($950 million). This marks the first instance since 2014 (excluding the pandemic-affected years of 2020 and 2021) that none of Disney’s films surpassed the $1 billion milestone.

While Disney maintains its dominance as a box office giant, the truth is that many of the studio’s major releases in 2023 fell short of expectations. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845 million) stood out as the sole clear success. On the contrary, a series of underperforming sequels and remakes, such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Marvels,” and “Haunted Mansion,” among others, led to Disney relinquishing its box office supremacy to Universal.

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Universal faced some setbacks, though not as severe as Disney’s. The vampire comedy “Renfield” struggled, garnering only $26 million globally, while “Book Club: The Next Chapter” fell short of the $30 million worldwide mark (the predecessor reached $100 million in 2018). The animated feature “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” just managed to surpass $45 million. Despite the hefty $340 million budget of “Fast X,” the film narrowly broke even, grossing $704 million and securing the fifth position among the year’s highest-grossing movies.

Universal and Disney were perched high above their competitors. Warner Brothers took third place with 3.84 billion globally, Sony had 2.09 billion and Paramount had 2.02 Billion. Looking ahead to 2024, competition should once again be tight for the race to the top with studios emerging from the Writers and Actors strikes which paralyzed production for months. 2024 should see a diverse slate of films from across genres, but expect a healthy dose of superhero and blockbuster films to dominate once again.

We would like to hear your thoughts on Universal’s triumph over Disney. Does Disney’s fall to number two spell trouble for the studio or is this just simple math? Please let us know what you think in a comment.