Not so long ago, Walt Disney Studios was the most successful Hollywood enterprise. That was especially true for its animated films, which dominated the box office for generations.
But the top movie studio has stumbled recently, as its progressive, “woke” agenda came to light.
Americans ditched Disney in droves, resulting in major box office flops. How bad was it for Disney in 2023? Well, not only were they not the most successful studio, but another company had the biggest animated movie of the year.
From Daily Wire:
Disney isn’t the top-performing movie studio of 2023.Universal overtook Disney to steal the top spot from the House of Mouse – largely thanks to big hits last year including “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “M3GAN,” per a Variety report. These and other projects brought in a collective $4.907 billion in worldwide ticket sales, pushing Disney to the second-place spot.
This is the first time Disney hasn’t been the highest-grossing studio since 2015.
Things are looking bad for Disney. A new report revealed that Universal Studios outperformed the company in 2023. The rival studio brought in nearly $5 billion in worldwide box office ticket sales.
This was thanks in part to The Super Mario Bros Movie which was a billion-dollar animated success.
Not only this, but 2023 was the first time in years since Disney didn’t have a movie in the top three—and the first since 2013 that they didn’t have a single film earn $1 billion or more.
Last year, Disney had several blockbuster films tank at the box office, including several animated features. Its animation studio has been struggling for a hit in recent years. Many blame the failures on “woke” programming that has become rife among Disney films.
The company blamed the fall on releasing fewer movies than Universal, although only a handful of the rival company’s films gave them the top spot. It is more likely that this is part of Disney’s larger decline, as consumers move away from its movies and shows due to political messaging.
Key Takeaways:
- Disney was beaten by Universal Studios as the number-one film maker in 2023.
- This was in part thanks to the Super Mario film, the biggest animated hit of the year.
- Disney has seen significant financial decline in recent years; many blame it on its woke agenda.
Source: Daily Wire