Industry giant Walt Disney Studios has only gained momentum after breaking several records with Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which recently exceeded James Cameron’s Avatar to become the highest grossing film of all time. Now their latest animated film, Toy Story 4 has crossed the $1 billion threshold at the box office, making Disney the first studio to have five films reach this number in the same year, according to Deadline. The other films that helped the studio achieve this feat include Endgame, The Lion King, Aladdin and Captain Marvel, a juggernaut formula for success created by Disney and Marvel’s decision to focus on live-action films.
It was not initially anticipated that Toy Story 4 would make significant headway in ticket sales at the box office. The film, however, beat expectations and saw a debut at $244.5 million, making it the biggest premiere for an animated film so far. Toy Story 4 generated the most earnings overseas at $580 million. Some of the countries abroad that made the film’s biggest gains include Brazil ($32.4 million), China ($29.1 million), Argentina ($28.6 million), Australia ($28.6 million), and France ($27.8 million).
Disney has set itself up for potential future achievements this year with the release of the live-action Maleficent sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in October and Frozen 2 in November.