Thanks in part to a stacked final quarter of film releases, Disney won the 2025 box-office race, raking in more than US$6.58 billion in worldwide ticket sales for the year. 

The studio outperformed both Warner Bros. Discovery (US$4.4 billion) and Universal Pictures (US$3.89 billion) by a wide margin, with Zootopia 2 and the live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch emerging as its biggest kids titles of the year. In particular, Zootopia 2 closed out the year by dethroning Frozen 2 as the company’s highest-grossing animated film to date, doing more than US$1.47 billion at the box office. 

Those two features were among the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year worldwide, with both breaking the US$1-billion box-office threshold. (Top spot went to Chinese CG-animated fantasy film Ne Zha 2, which earned a staggering US$2.24 billion last year.)

Disney’s kids & family successes managed to overshadow the remaining 20-plus films it released last year, most of which left something to be desired. Notable underperformers included MCU releases like The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, which used to be guaranteed US$1-billion blockbusters during their peak. Meanwhile, Pixar dropped its biggest bomb to date this year with Elio, which only grossed US$154 million against a reported US$150-million budget. And the live-action rendition of Snow White was poison for the company, reportedly losing US$100 million after completing its run in theaters. 

The global box office grossed a total US$33.5 billion last year, which is up 10% from 2024 (US$30.5 billion). It’s a good signal that the industry is staging a comeback  with two years of consecutive growth, but the results are still 14% behind the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017 to 2019), according to Gower Street Analytics. The research firm is forecasting a small boost in box-office revenue to US$35 billion this year, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Toy Story 5, Hoppers, The Cat in the Hat and a live-action adaptation of Moana leading the charge on the family-friendly film front.