Universal Pictures today announced that the studio has grossed $5.53 billion, marking the highest-grossing year ever for a studio in industry history. In just seven months, Universal Pictures bested the record previously held by 20th Century Fox (which ended 2014 with $5.52 billion). To date, Universal Pictures has grossed $3.59 billion internationally and $1.94 billion domestically and is poised to cross $2 billion at the North American box office later this month.
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Unfortunately, they won't hold onto this record for long. When Star Wars comes out, it should push Disney to a new record.
Actually, the timing of the Star Wars release probably won't push Disney ahead of Universal for the calendar year, as Star Wars will only have a couple of weeks in theaters before the end of 2015.
However, if anyone bothers to look back at some point in the future and tally the lifetime earnings of the films released in 2015, then Disney's slate might top Universal's, thanks to SW7.
I don't know Jeff. TFA is probably going to burn long into January, but the mid-December release will probably leave Disney short of Universal's current record. Disney/Buena Vista is at a little over $1.3 billion right now with Bridge of Spies (Spielberg/Hanks - along with the Coen Bros. i.e. Oscar shoe-in), The Good Dinosaur, and TFA left on the calendar. Disney would need those three to gross $550 million in just over 2 months (Bridge of Spies opens mid-October, Good Dino mid-November, and TFA mid-December) with the likely biggest grosser having only 2 weeks to pull its weight.
That doesn't even take into account that Universal still has a number of movies to release that will make it even harder, and likely impossible to catch (Straight Outta Compton, The Visit, Everest, Steve Jobs, Crimson Peak, Jem and the Holograms, By the Sea (Pitt/Jolie project), and Sisters (Tina Fay comedy), so even if TFA were opening in October and ran hot all the way through the new year, Disney would still not be able to catch Universal.
There's also the problem with TFA and screens. Because it's releasing in the tight Christmas/Oscar-bait season, TFA will not be shown on as many screens as a typical summer blockbuster, which means even if every single showing is sold out, it's unlikely to break any opening weekend records (aside for perhaps a monthly record). I wouldn't be surprised if TFA can pull over $250 million by the end of the year (and will probably top $500 million by the end of it's run), but it simply won't be enough to bridge the gap that Universal has built.
Russel, from what I saw in the Ant-man trailers, I think Disney has another one about a Coast Guard Mission ( I don't remember the title of it).
It won't matter how much these movies gross, like Robert said, even though at the end of its run, TFA could easily hit the 2 billion dollar worldwide mark.
Tyler,
That movie is titled, "The Finest Hours". However, it's not being released this year (January 2016 & it's opening against Kung Fu Panda 3)
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Hopefully they use this money to expand USH.