Categories: Entertainment

Disney makes history as ‘Thor’ pushes takings to $5bn

The superhero movie, made by Disney’s Marvel subsidiary, is on the verge of surpassing $800 million worldwide, putting the company’s haul for 2017 at $1.8 billion in North America and $3.2 billion abroad.

It is the third year in a row that the entertainment giant has passed the $5 billion benchmark, with its sure-fire biggest hit, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” not due in theaters for another two weeks.

Last year was the first in which all five of Walt Disney Studios’ top brands — Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm — released movies, giving the company an industry-first $7 billion box office.

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Much of Disney’s success this year has been due to its live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast,” the highest grossing film worldwide in 2017 with $1.3 billion.

It has been a record year for Marvel, which is celebrating its first hat-trick of $100 million-plus domestic openings, kicked off in May by “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and followed a month later by “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

Those two films also passed $800 million worldwide, making the trifecta (including “Thor”) a first for Marvel, with the parent company expected to account for half of the top 10 highest grossing films of 2017.

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Pixar’s “Coco” netted an $72.9 million for the five-day Thanksgiving period and is approaching $180 million worldwide while late 2016 releases “Moana” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” bumped up 2017 takings by $561 million.

“The Last Jedi,” which hits theaters on December 15, is widely expected to have the top domestic opening weekend of the year and cross the $1 billion mark.

The Walt Disney Company, the world’s second largest media conglomerate behind Comcast, surprised investors earlier this month by missing Wall Street expectations for fourth quarter revenue and earnings.

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But the company is expecting to bounce back as it expands its “Star Wars” franchise with a new trilogy and live-action TV series, and introduces streaming services to rival Netflix and Amazon.

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By Agence France Presse