Disney’s giant blockbuster franchises achieved a near-impossible feat at the worldwide box office in 2016 — and that feat may never be repeated by another studio (or even by Disney itself). The Mouse House has made an impressive recovery at the box office this year with a trio of massive hits culminating inMoana 2.The Disney brand hit an all-time low in 2022 and 2023with bombs likeThe Marvels,Strange World, and theHaunted Mansionreboot, and commercial disappointments likeElemental,The Little Mermaid,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, andIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
But in 2024, Disney has made an impressive comeback at the box office. It had the two highest-grossing movies of the year withPixar’sInside Out 2, the highest-grossing animated movie ever made, and Marvel Studios’Deadpool & Wolverine, the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made. As impressive as Disney’s box office recovery in 2024 was, it was nowhere near as impressive as the box office success the studio accomplished in 2016. Disney’s 2016 success will be difficult for any studio to replicate (especially in a post-COVID world).
Disney Was Responsible For The Five Highest Grossing Movies At The Box Office In 2016
2016’s Top Five Movies At The Box Office Were All Released By Disney
The five highest-grossing movies of 2016 (viaBox Office Mojo) were all released by Disney.Captain America: Civil War, a massive Marvel crossoverpitting Iron Man against Captain America, topped the box office for the year with a global haul of $1,153,296,293.Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the prequel explaining how the Rebels acquired the Death Star plans, came in a close second with $1,056,057,273.Finding Dory, Pixar’s long-awaited sequel toFinding Nemo, grossed $1,028,570,889.Zootopia, a hit original animation, grossed $1,023,784,195, and the live-action remake ofThe Jungle Bookgrossed $966,550,600.
Disney also had the 11th and 12th highest-grossing movies of 2016 withDoctor Strangeand the originalMoana, respectively.
2016 wasa perfect storm for Disney. The Marvel andStar Warsbrands were at the height of their value before years of hit-and-miss output would damage the audience’s goodwill. Unlike many of the less successful remakes that followed,The Jungle Bookwas surprisingly great; it has gorgeous visuals and a tighter story that actually improves on the original.Finding Doryfollowed up on one ofPixar’s most beloved moviesandZootopiaoffered a fascinating new animated world with strong storytelling and lovable characters. Back then,the Disney brand seemed indestructible.
Even Disney Will Struggle To Replicate Its 2016 Box Office Success
The Box Office Is In Shambles After COVID
Even Disney will struggle to replicate its box office success from 2016. It’s almost impossible for the five biggest movies of the year to all come from one studio. Disney made a good go of monopolizing the industry by acquiring one of the other major studios, 20th Century Fox. But the rest of the “Big Five” (formerly “Big Six”) — Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros., and Sony — areall vying for box office domination. And that’s not to mention smaller studios like Lionsgate and A24, who deliver the occasional surprise hit likeJohn WickorEverything Everywhere All at Once.
Inside Out 2 Broke The Second Longest Box Office Streak In Recorded History With Rare Animated Movie Accomplishment
Inside Out 2 is the highest-grossing movie of 2024 by a wide margin, and it’s the first animated film to top the year’s box office in a long time.
Every studio has big blockbuster movies out every year. It’s tough for just one of them to outdo all the rest to grab all five top spots on the year-end box office chart. There’s a reason it’s only ever happened once before. 2016 was the exception to the rule, even at the best of times.In a post-COVID world, it’s getting harder and harder for studios to get audiences out to theatersunless it’s for a cultural event like Barbenheimer. Today,studios are lucky if they have one big hit in a year, let alone five.
2026 Is Disney’s Best Shot To Tie Its 2016 Box Office Record
In 2026, Disney Has Moana, The Avengers, The Mandalorian & Woody All Coming To Theaters
Disney has a good chance of replicating its 2016 box office success with its stacked release schedule for 2026.Avengers: Doomsday,Toy Story 5,The Mandalorian & Grogu, andthe live-action remake ofMoanaall have a good shot at ranking among the highest-grossing movies of the year; they’re all based on Disney’s most valuable blockbuster properties.Disney just needs one more blockbuster movie in 2026(and for all of them to do exceptionally well at the box office) to make it happen. There are some other 2026 Disney films that could be box office hits.
Avengers: Doomsday, Toy Story 5, The Mandalorian & Grogu, and the live-action remake of Moana all have a good shot at ranking among the highest-grossing movies of the year; they’re all based on Disney’s most valuable blockbuster properties.
Tom Holland’s fourthSpider-Manmovie is set to be released on July 15, 2025, but while that’s a guaranteed blockbuster, it’s tied up with Sony, so it wouldn’t really count as a victory for Disney. There’s alsoan original Pixar production calledHopperscoming out on March 6. Pixar’s original movies haven’t done as well as their sequels recently, butInside Out 2won back some goodwill for the studio, andHoppershas an interesting premise of scientists transplanting their consciousness into robot animals.Disneyalso has seven as-yet-unannounced movies dated throughout 2026, so one of them could break out.
