Walt Disney Studios made box office history on Monday as its global box office total for 2018 hit $7 billion. It’s only the second time in industry history that a studio has reached that mark, with Disney previously reaching it in 2016.
The milestone comes a week before Disney’s final 2018 release, “Mary Poppins Returns,” is set to arrive in theaters after earning four Golden Globe nominations. When it opens on December 19, it will push Disney past the all-time annual domestic record of $3 billion that it set in 2016. The studio’s domestic total is currently at $2.94 billion.
Disney has set multiple box office records in 2018, including the largest opening weekend in box office history with “Avengers: Infinity War” with $257.7 billion. The Marvel crossover also became the first summer release to gross over $2 billion worldwide. Marvel Studios also gave Disney the record for the biggest pre-summer release ever with “Black Panther,” which became Marvel’s first Best Picture Golden Globe nominee after grossing $700 million domestic and $1.34 billion worldwide.
Pixar also contributed massively to Disney’s success with “The Incredibles 2,” which is now the highest grossing animated film of all time, with $608 million domestic and $1.24 billion worldwide. Combined with 2017’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Disney is the first studio ever to release four films that grossed over $600 million domestic in less than 12 months.
2019 is expected to continue Disney’s runaway lead on the box office charts, with Marvel Studios releasing “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame” and Pixar releasing “Toy Story 4” next year. Walt Disney Pictures will also release remakes of “Dumbo,” “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” in 2019, while Lucasfilm will release “Star Wars: Episode IX” next Christmas.