Universal Pictures placed #1 in market share at the 2023 global box office, making this the first year since 2016 that Disney wasn’t in the top spot, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
What’s Happening:
- Universal released 24 movies across 2023, generating an estimated $4.91 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
- Meanwhile, Disney came just under with an estimated $4.83 billion from their 17 titles.
- Universal’s total haul included $1.94 billion in domestic revenue, while Disney’s domestic tally was $1.9 billion.
- Internationally, Universal prevailed with $2.97 billion, while Disney got $2.92 billion in offshore revenue.
- This change marks a big win for NBCUniversal Studio Group chairman Donna Langley, who is known for her close ties with top filmmakers. She was notably able to lure Christopher Nolan to Universal from Warner Bros. to release what became Universal’s top-grossing film of the year, Oppenheimer.
- Oppenheimer brought in an impressive $952 million in global ticket sales, a record sum for a biographical drama and Nolan’s best showing outside of his two Dark Knight movies, not adjusted for inflation.
- Another hit for Universal was Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $1.36 billion globally, becoming the #2 animated film of all time behind Frozen.
- Disney previously placed first in global market share from 2016 to 2022 (it lost the domestic race to Sony in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 box office collapse).
- Universal hasn’t ranked #1 on a worldwide basis since 2015, when the studio’s revenue reached a then-record $6.9 billion.
What They’re Saying:
- Jim Orr, Universal Pictures president of domestic distribution: “In 2023, Universal once again found success at the box office with our eclectic slate of films. Our slate featured blockbusters like Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer and Illumination’s record-breaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie, horror hits including Blumhouse’s breakout hit M3GAN, comedies, dramas, and family films from two of the biggest names in animation, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation.”
- Disney chief of global distribution Tony Chambers: “Being the No. 1 studio globally for seven consecutive years out of the last eight is pretty remarkable by any measure and is something of which we are all incredibly proud.”