Box office news: Disney wins Hollywood Studio battle of 2025
Disney won the box office battle among Hollywood studios with an impressive 2025.
The House of Mouse grossed an approximate $6.58 billion worldwide.
Film News Blitz’s Dan Lawrence takes a look at how Disney fared over the competition.
A big win for Disney
According to Screen Daily, Disney beat its Hollywood rivals in the 2025 box office league tables by grossing over $6.5 billion globally.
Its biggest hit of the year came late, with Zootropolis 2 grossing $1.48 billion by 31 December.
That animated sequel is still going strong in cinemas, having crossed $1.5 billion to date and Disney’s third-strongest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has now crossed $1 billion after raking in $833 million before the New Year.
The Disney silver medal went to the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which grossed $1.04 billion worldwide.
Disney’s tally is the most any studio has achieved since the pre-pandemic year of 2019 and it could go even better in 2026.
That’s because of massive releases like Toy Story 5, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Avengers: Doomsday.
Warner Bros. in second place
$4.4 billion put Warner Bros. in second place for 2025, and while the studio is now dominating headlines due to a tussle between Netflix and Paramount, it had a very strong year in theatres.
An incredible run saw Warner Bros. set a historic record of seven consecutive films opening at over $40 million.
Moreover, Warner Bros. was the first studio to cross the $4 billion mark in 2025, but its release slate simmered down soon after.
More good news for Hollywood in the post-pandemic era was the fact that Warner Bros. hadn't surpassed $4 billion since 2019, and did so with nine fewer releases in 2025.
Its biggest releases of the year were A Minecraft Movie ($958.1 million), F1: The Movie ($631.6 million) and Superman ($616.8 million).
2026 will see the studio go to war with Disney in one of the biggest release events of the year, as Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday clash on 18 December, a.k.a. Dunesday.
Universal completes the box office podium
Universal Pictures also had a strong 2025, grossing $2.1 billion at the box office worldwide.
The studio’s strongest performer was Jurassic World: Rebirth, which grossed $869.1 million worldwide.
Its live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon paid dividends with a worldwide gross of $636.4 million, while Wicked: For Good grossed $518.3 million.
2026 shows promise with some major releases for the studio, including Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.
However, Universal’s biggest hopes lie in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which follows 2023’s second-biggest film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s latest IMAX epic.
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