The total annual domestic ticket sales have never recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some people who subscribed to streaming services probably never returned to theaters. Box Office Mojo states domestic ticket sales were over $11 billion annually from 2015 to 2019. They peaked in 2018 at $11.92 billion. After a sharp drop in 2020 and 2021, they have fallen short of $9 billion in 2023 and 2024. Last year, the total was $8.52 billion. Disney won the race for most successful movies with three of the top five based on gross ticket sales in 2024.
All three of these Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) movies were parts of franchises. The top movie was “Inside Out 2,” with gross domestic ticket sales of $653 million. Disney also took second place with “Deal Pool & Wolverine,” with a domestic gross of $636 million. Disney also had fourth place with “Moana 2” and gross domestic ticket sales of $400 million.
Universal Pictures had the No.3 movie in terms of domestic gross with “Wicked” at $429 million. The studio also had the No.5 film with “Despicable Me 4” at $361 million.
Disney’s studio revenue shows up in what is known as “Content Sales/Licensing.” In the most recently reported quarter, the segment produced revenue of $2.95 billion out of Disney’s $10.8 billion. This was up by 39% from the same quarter the year before. Operating income was $316 million compared to a loss by the segment of $149 million the year before.
One sign that streaming is stealing consumers from theaters is the subscriber figure for Disney’s streaming service, Disney+. It had 26.5 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2020. That has risen to 153.8 in the third quarter of this year.
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