Disney has lost its top spot as the highest-grossing studio at the box office after a string of ‘woke’ movie flops and wading into culture war issues in Florida
Disney has been knocked off its perch as Hollywood’s top-grossing studio at the box office in 2023 by Universal, according to reports.
Last year, the two entertainment giants battled for supremacy in movie theaters, with reports from Variety and Hollywood Reporter indicating that Universal managed to edge out Disney in both domestic and offshore revenue.
Universal, which released 24 movies in 2023, generated an estimated $4.91 billion in worldwide ticket sales, per the reports.
Disney, by contrast, issued 17 titles last year, bringing in $4.83 billion.
“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,” Disney chief of global distribution Tony Chambers told the Hollywood Reporter.Domestically, Universal also came out ahead of Disney, managing to generate revenue of $1.94 billion compared with $1.9 billion.
In another disappointment for Disney, the studio failed to break into the top three of 2023’s highest-grossing movies. That honor belonged to Warner Bros. and Universal: Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” brought in $1.4 billion, followed by Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” with $1.3 billion and “Oppenheimer” at $950 million.
Controversy Rides High
Disney’s drop into second place comes in a year fraught with controversy for the entertainment giant over its long-running “woke” agenda.
In March 2022, Florida lawmakers passed HB 1557, or the Parental Rights in Education Act, which banned instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools for kindergarten through third grade.
The bill was later signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has pushed back against policies that he and other conservatives have described as radically progressive.
The same day that Mr. DeSantis signed the bill, Disney waded into the controversy, issuing a statement that expressed the company’s full-throated opposition to the measure.
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