Disney in 2016 is on track to become one of the most profitable “year + studio” combinations in history, as the studio broke its own record for annual overseas box office on Sunday with $3.5664 billion earned overseas through October 16. That’s a solid two and a half months before the end of the calendar year that they topped the $3.5652 billion they earned overseas through December 31 of last year, their previous overseas record.
Disney claims all four of the highest grossing films worldwide so far this year: Captain America: Civil War with $1.1533 billion, Zootopia with $1.0236 billion, Finding Dory with $1.0111 billion, and The Jungle Book with $966.3 million..
They also claim all three of the highest grossing films overseas so far this year: Captain America: Civil War with $745.2 million, Zootopia with $682.4 million, and The Jungle Book with $602.3 million. (Finding Dory currently ranks sixth on that list with $525.9 million overseas.)
In addition, Disney claimed last year’s highest grossing film globally with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was released in December 2015 but earned $452.4 million of its $1.1316 billion overseas total during this calendar year.
Disney’s good fortunes aren’t done yet. Their three remaining releases in 2016 are the new Marvel superhero film Doctor Strange, the animated musical Moana, and the Star Wars spinoff Rogue One. All three are expected to make terrific money, with perhaps all three titles contending for the year-end top 10 highest grossers of the year, both on the domestic and overseas charts. If so, that could potentially give Disney as many as seven of the top 10 films of the year — a feat perhaps unprecedented for a single studio in the modern history of the box office.
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