Another Huge hit for Universal. Minions 115 Million.

It certainly has been an explosive year for the "theme park film studios." As Mr. Emery notes Universal has had some great success at the box office.

In addition, the team at Disney has enjoyed record breaking receipts for its films.

Variety: "Walt Disney Studios has reached the $3 billion global box office milestone for 2015 — the fastest it has ever crossed the mark — fueled by the successes of 'Avengers: Age of Ultron,' 'Cinderella' and 'Inside Out.' It’s the sixth consecutive year and the ninth time overall that Disney has achieved the milestone. The studio hit the mark on June 30, five weeks faster than the previous record set last year on Aug. 5."

No doubt Universal Disney will continue to enjoy a banner year in 2015 -- especially considering the looming release date of 'Star Wars' episode seven. Considering the buzz J.J. Abrams' flick got coming out of Comic Con.

Just imagine how big Star Wars Opening weekend will be...

$200 million USA opening weekend?

Holiday releases typically fail to match summer blockbuster opening weekends because they cannot secure enough screens due to studios releasing more films in the final quarter of the year. Disney will probably not be able to secure much more than 4,000 screens domestically the week before Christmas, which means it will have a hard time topping $200 million. It's possible that TFA will take many of The Good Dinosaur's screens (releasing over Thanksgiving weekend), but it's still probably going to fall short of the 4,000+ needed to crack $200 million. That's why Disney has moved the rest of the announced Star Wars films after Rogue One for summer release (Memorial Day). It's a bit of a balancing act for Disney because they have two HUGE blockbuster caliber properties (MCU and SW) that they want to maximize. It's tricky to provide enough "breathing space" between releases while still hitting your core audience without fatiguing them.

I'm sure TFA will have a strong hold into February and will quickly reach well above $1 billion globally, but I think it's going to be an uphill climb to crack $200 million domestically on its opening weekend simply because it won't have enough screens.

What I found most interesting is that TFA got such HUGE buzz even though JJ deliberately came out and said there wouldn't be a trailer. Then he totes out that behind the scenes piece that was probably better than any trailer they could have produced. At this point, they could probably not do any further marketing and still break December records. The geeks are ready!

The real test of Disney marketing will be this weekend's Ant Man and next year's Marvel peripheral releases (Deadpool and Doctor Strange) to see if they can pull more than just the comic book fans. With DC finally getting off their hands with multiple projects on the horizon, Marvel will need to keep its golden touch to continue its flow of financing from Disney. If Ant Man falls short of expectations, Disney may start trimming the future calendar and bring the focus back to the primary characters that put Marvel on the map (The Avengers and Spider Man). Next year could be a HUGE watershed moment for comic book movies. With Deadpool, Dr. Strange, Captain America Civil War (which includes a Spiderman appearance), Dawn of Justice, X-Men Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, and Gambit, we are approaching a saturation point when it comes to comic book films. The only question will be which film/characters will not meet expectations - my early money is on Dawn of Justice falling flat based on the lackluster SDCC presentation and Snyder's bronzed patina on the early footage from DOJ. I LOVED Man of Steel, but have a hard time believing Batfleckman in a Mark I Iron Man suit could touch Superman after seeing his battle with Zod in MOS. Also, Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is a complete miscast.

I wonder if Paul Rudd is much of a draw for Ant Man. It might still be a big hit. I can't say I'm necessarily excited about it. Couldn't they pair Wasp Girl with Ant Man? Maybe that's in the sequel.

I'm glad for Minions. It's a big hit in overseas markets right now.

It might be time for Universal to step up and purchase Illumination Entertainment for good. They've done a great job of making successful films at relatively inexpensive budgets. It'd help make up for the lost Dreamworks partnership.

2015 is certainly Disney's & Universal's year at the box office. Some great financial results. But keep in mind that the movie box office is a fickle business. Different Studio's hit the jackpot in different years. No one in the history of the film business has been able to always predict what film properties will do once they're produced and debut. Lots of hits & misses every year. But I'm sure happy for Universal & Disney. Some of that money may filter through the company coffers and end up at the theme parks.

Universal has produced the 4 and 5 highest grossing films of all time this year.

Universal did a great job front loading the first half of 2015 with blockbuster sequels - three movies I dont think anyone expected to perform as well as they did (F&F, JW, and Minions).

Going forward, the next six months look to be made up of smaller films with less potential earnings. Their one "big" film appears to be Everest, but as it is not a sequel, it will require some great word of mouth to come anywhere close to matching the numbers of F&F or JW. Still, kudos to Universal on a fantastic six months. Some amazing numbers indeed.

Mr. Cohen writes: "Universal has produced the 4 and 5 highest grossing films of all time this year."

I Respond: That's amazing! And Disney has as reached the $3 billion global box office milestone for its sixth consecutive year.

This is what happens when mega-huge media companies plan out movies. Anything less than a billion dollars in box office is considered not worth the effort. Any production cost less than $200 million is not considered ambitious enough. Movie companies one time thought $10 million movies that took in $50 million were great successes. Companies that can afford to make many, many small films just don't care about doing that anymore.

Looks like there is a Disney mole in this discussion about Universal movies.

I am pretty sure they will find screen space for Star Wars.

Two of the Top Five of All Time not Four of the Top Five

One of the most impressive elements an sometimes lost in huge box office. Is how much was spent to make the movie.

Case in point Tommorowland will end up making almost 100 million domestic, which until you hear the budget sounds ok

Minions made 115 million in 3 days and only cost 74 million to make

Nick, if what I said caused your response...when I said "mega-huge media companies" (plural), I referred to both DisneyABC and NBCUniversal.