Walt Disney Studios is expected to cross the $6 billion mark at the 2017 worldwide box office on Friday, with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” providing the final push to reach the milestone.
Disney is the first and only studio to hit this goal twice, having done so last year when it set a record with $7.6 billion at the global box office. Disney is also the only studio to break the $5 billion mark globally for three consecutive years.
Universal Pictures announced on Dec. 12 that it had topped $5 billion worldwide for the second time in the studio’s 105-year history. Disney hit the milestone first, on Nov. 30, and Warner Bros. followed five days later.
Disney has already cleared the $2 billion mark this year in domestic grosses, though Warner Bros. achieved that mark first on Dec. 10. Internationally, Disney has passed $3.5 billion for the third year in a row.
Disney scored the three top domestic debuts of 2017: “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with a $220 million opening weekend, “Beauty and the Beast” with $174.8 million, and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” with $146.5 million. Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is set to cross the $650 million mark at the worldwide box office on Friday, with $610.5 million already grossed in its first week.
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The box office record comes a week after Disney announced it was spending $52.4 billion to acquire 21st Century Fox assets — a move that will make the company the undisputed leader in box office share in coming years.
