‘Pirates’ Pushes Disney Global Box Office Past $3 Billion for 2017
While the domestic box office is experiencing a major slump, Disney stands out as the studio with the mostest — as of Tuesday morning, Disney crossed the $3 billion mark in global box office.
About two thirds of those ticket sales have from from the international box office, $1.9 billion, while domestic grosses account for $1.1 billion.
The movie to push the studio past the milestone was “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” the fifth installment in the franchise starring Johnny Depp that becomes increasingly dependent on international sales, but manages to make bank regardless. By Tuesday morning the movie had earned $326 million worldwide, $247.8 million of which have come from overseas markets. China alone has accounted for $92.3 million in sales, which is more than the $78.2 it has made in the U.S.
But a number like $3 billion does not come about by one film’s success alone. Disney owes a lot to its remake of “Beauty and the Beast,” which is the highest grossing film of the year so far, and tenth highest grossing movie of all time. The live-action film starring Emma Watson recently crossed $500 million at the domestic box office.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” has also been a massive hit for the studio, and the lone bright spot in an otherwise gloomy start to the summer season. The sequel has tallied over $788 million worldwide, out-earning the 2014 original, which is a feat for sequels these days. $450 million or about 57% of its take so far has come from overseas markets.
Disney’s December 2016 “Rogue One: A Star Wars” also held over to become a huge earner in 2017.
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