Attacking Disney: Breaking US$1 billion in 128 days will lead the top spot in the "Big Six"

With the explosive performance of "Captain America 3" in the first weekend, Disney's 2016 North American box office officially exceeded the US$1 billion mark. Disney reached this milestone in just 128 days, far behind the 165-day record set by Universal last year.

As of 0:00 on May 8, with the explosive performance of "Captain America 3" on the first weekend, Disney's North American box office in 2016 officially exceeded the US$1 billion mark.Disneyreached this milestone in only 128 days, which is the 165-day record set by Universal last year is far behind.

Disney has earned US$1 billion in less than five months, and Disney has naturally played a good hand: since the release of "Zootopia" in early March, 8 of the 12 North American weekend box office champions have belonged to Disney, among which "Zootopia" and "Fantasy Forest" have won three consecutive championships respectively, and "Captain America 3" also won two consecutive championships before "Angry Birds" usurped the throne; If we add the second consecutive victory of the "Record Harvester" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at the beginning of the year, Disney has hit the top spot on the weekend rankings 10 times, a full three more than the same period last year at Universal.

"Captain America 3" crossed the US$300 million line in 11 days, makingDisney the first studio in history to contribute three US$300 million + films for two consecutive years. However, last year, Disney did not achieve this achievement until the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at the end of the year (the other two films are "Avengers 2: Age of Ultron" and "Mind Agents"). This time, it was more than half a year ahead of schedule. The fast rate of gold mining is truly rare.

In the North American provisional annual rankings, except for Fox's R-rated superhero film "Deadpool" that still occupies the top spot (based on the current growth momentum,"Captain America 3" will rise to the top spot after this weekend), the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places are all dominated by Disney's "Sanying"; if you include "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", which won nearly $285 million in the New Year, 4 of the top 6 seats are all occupied by Disney, and fifth place is the DC masterpiece "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice", which performed poorly than expected.

But North America is just the tip of the iceberg where Disney works its magic: as of May 25 (The statistical cycles vary slightly in different countries and regions.) Disney's "Captain America 3","Zootopia" and "Fantasy Forest" earned US$1.06 billion, US$980 million and US$860 million respectively in the global box office, firmly occupying the 1st, 2nd and 4th place in the annual rankings; considering that "Fantasy Forest" has not slowed down its pace of conquering the city, it can overtake the top US$870 million "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice" within this week. As a result, Disney will achieve the top 3 global box office, and its dominance is amazing. Considering that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" still earned US$728 million worldwide after entering 2016, Disney actually replicated the magic of "6 in 4" in North America.

In mainland China, these four works are also among the top four of the annual ledger films ("Kung Fu Panda 3" is included in the ranks of co-productions). It can be said that Disney has almost alone borne half of the imported films. Of course, except for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", which was delayed for three weeks, the other three films have all enjoyed simultaneous release treatment. This shows that Disney has also achieved remarkable results in government public relations; I believe that after Shanghai Disneyland opens next month, this "sweet relationship" will continue to develop in depth.

As of now, Disney's market share has approached the highest value in the same period in history in terms of global, North America, and China: Disney China's total output has reached 4.52 billion yuan, only one step away from the record of 4.56 billion yuan set by Global last year. It will have a high probability of becoming the first member of the mainland's 5 billion club; Disney's North American market share has currently exceeded 30%, surpassing the combined number of 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., which ranked second and third. It is expected to become the first studio to have a local box office exceeding US$2 billion for two consecutive years. At the same time, it will also be Disney has won the top spot in the" Big Six" for the first time since 2003; Finally, Disney Worldwide has made huge profits of US$3.811 billion, which will impact on Universal's industry-best score of US$6.588 billion last year.

The reason why there are such optimistic expectations is that Disney's next film list is still heaven-defying:"Alice in Wonderland", which swept more than $1 billion six years ago, has welcomed the return of the sequel "Alice in Wonderland 2: Adventures in the Mirror", which is still selling well; another classic masterpiece is Pixar's "Finding Nemo 2: Where Is Dolly Going?", which will base the global box office at the box office of US$800 million; Later, Spielberg's fantasy adventure "The Dream Giant" and the classic animated adaptation of "Peter's Dragon" will relay to the summer season; entering November, the boundaries of the" Marvel Universe" will expand again with" Doctor Strange" starring", while Disney's animated film of the year," Moana", will appear on Thanksgiving Day; the final appearance is" Grand Theft One: Star Wars ": This film is expected to become the last film this year to exceed US$1 billion. The departure of Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen will undoubtedly ignite the curiosity of mainland fans. Of course, since it is currently in the domestic" New Year's Eve ", this work is unlikely to be introduced simultaneously.

In fact, the seeds of Disney's hegemony this year were sown many years ago: in 2006, Disney included Pixar in its accounts for US$7.4 billion. Since then, its biggest competitor, which had threatened its animation foundation, has become a wholly-owned subsidiary. This led to John Lasseter taking charge of the animation department, and the impact of this acquisition continues to this day. In 2009, Disney spent a huge amount of US$4.24 billion to buy Marvel. At that time, the "Marvel Movie Universe" had just been launched by "Iron Man", and the prospects were not very clear; however, this once again confirmed Disney CEO Robert Eiger's sinister vision: The current total global box office of "Marvel Movie Universe" has exceeded US$10 billion, making it the best-selling series in history. So far, Disney is not satisfied: In 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for US$4.05 billion, which launched the production of the new "Star Wars" trilogy. Last year,"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" exceeded 2 billion. The performance of the US dollar has proved its own value for money.

In addition to outsourcing excellent assets, Disney is also unremitting in strengthening the construction of its own original brand-the animation department, as the "treasure of the company", bears the brunt. Since Pixar's creative director John Lasseter took office, Disney's animation department has intended to extend new brand value beyond the original "princess style" and 2D hand-painted, and has actively expanded into the field of digital production, launching "Meet the Robinson Family","Lightning Dog","Princess and the Frog" and other water-testing works. With "Magic" earning nearly US$600 million worldwide in 2010, Disney's animation department finally entered the fast lane of development.In the following years,"Invincible Destroyer","Frozen" and "Super Marines" were both applauded and popular. Among them,"Frozen" surpassed Pixar's "Toy Story 3" and became the world's highest-grossing animated film in history. This year, with "Zootopia" once again becoming popular around the world, the rise of Disney animation is still continuing.

At the same time, Disney is also actively looking for new creative sources in its treasure library and creating a unique gold-sucking tool in the industry-fairy tale/animation adaptations. After its first taste of "Alice in Wonderland", Disney has launched a series of real-life works such as "The Wizard of the Devil","Sleeping Curse","Cinderella", and "Fantasy Forest" in one go, and achieved quite good results. Due to its countless animation masterpieces and classic images, Disney's future exploration potential in this field is still huge. I believe that after "Alice in Wonderland 2" and "Beauty and the Beast", a new army of adaptations is ready to go.

The last gold mine that cannot be ignored is the fantasy adventure genre, and the most famous sub-brand is the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. The much-awaited "Pirates of the Caribbean 5: No Testimony" will return next year. I believe that the film will set off new waves. This year's "The Dream Giant" directed by Spielberg and adapted from British children's literature writer Roald Dahl will also be released in July. Whether it can reach the box office height of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" 11 years ago is worth looking forward to.

In fact, Disney's movie landscape has been extended to 2020: Marvel's scheduled works include "Doctor Strange","Guardians of the Galaxy 2","Thor 3: Dusk of the Gods","Black Panther","Captain Marvel" and the upper and lower parts of "Avengers", etc., and its confrontation with Warner's "DC Universe" will continue to escalate in the future; while Pixar is embarking on the path of producing sequels,"Finding Nemo 2","Racing 3","Toy Story 4" and "Incredible Story 2" are coming one after another, and the only confirmed original work currently is" Mexican Day of the Dead"; Lucasfilm will continue to expand the territory of the "Star Wars Universe"-in addition to the confirmed director candidates for the original series 8 and 9, two new rumored films have also filled in the blank years between them. Another big hit,"Raiders of the Lost Ark 5", has also announced the start of filming, and it is possible to hand over the lead role played by Harrison Ford to a new generation of action male stars, thus continuing the legendary story of Indiana Jones.

In addition, although the intensity is not as strong as the three sub-brands mentioned above, several Disney animations, live-action adaptations and fantasy adventures have also been announced for release. The most exciting ones are naturally the new version of "Beauty and the Beast" starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, and "Pirates of the Caribbean 5" starring Johnny Depp's fifth incarnation of Captain Jack Sparrow.

As a result, Disney has formed a huge network with outsourced Marvel + Pixar + Lucas and endogenous animation + real-life adaptations + fantasy adventures as branches, covering almost all mainstream movie audiences; Coupled with the symbiotic effect of theme parks, derivative licensing and cable TV networks, Disney's money-making machine will operate at full speed at maximum efficiency.

As the only studio in Hollywood's golden era of the Eighth Congress that has survived today by expanding itself rather than being combined, Disney is making great strides on the road to revival. Next, its six major brands are about to attack all of them, and Disney's hegemony has just begun.

The original text was published on "Yingyichang"(WeChat: Yingyichang2016), the first entertainment prediction market application in China. Welcome to pay attention!

Editor: vian