Disney has struggled to return to the lofty box-office records of 2019, which may have helped open the door for its recent troubles with activist investor Nelson Peltz. The company has more recently seen six straight quarters of operating losses within its content sales business, in which its box office and home entertainment divisions reside. Disney’s recent struggles at the box office have become a key piece of fodder for Peltz’s Trian Fund Management as he seeks a board seat for himself and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo.
Just four years ago, the studio had seven billion-dollar films, which contributed to a global box-office haul of more than $13.2 billion. Its studio entertainment segment posted revenue of $11.1 billion and operating income of $2.69 billion that year. More recently, the House of Mouse has seen these revenues fall below $9 billion in both 2022 and 2023 as well as six straight quarters of operating losses within its content sales business, in which its box office and home entertainment divisions reside. A combination of pandemic shutdowns, dual Hollywood labor strikes, and a failure to connect with audiences have led to a bleak period for Disney’s theatrical business.
Other than 2022’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ which Disney acquired as part of its $71 billion deal for the majority of 21st Century Fox, the company has not had a movie generate more than $1 billion since the last Star Wars movies in 2019, according to data from Comscore. Sony produced and distributed ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ which made $1.9 billion, although Disney’s Marvel Studios did serve as a co-producer.
Disney’s come close — with 2023’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3,’ which tallied nearly $900 million at the global box office as well as 2022 titles ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ ($955 million), ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ ($859 million), and ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ ($760 million). Yet, other big-budget franchise films have flopped. ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ in 2023 generated $378 million globally, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ secured $476 million worldwide, unusually low for a Marvel film (until ‘The Marvels’ reached just over $200 million late last year) and Pixar’s ‘Lightyear’ col
