After a slow start, the movie unit is near $1 billion at the box office for the year.
By Greg Hernande | Los Angeles Daily News
Posted November 26, 2004
BURBANK, CALIF. -- Incredibly, the resurgent movie division of the Walt Disney Co. is poised to hit the $1 billion mark in domestic box-office grosses this weekend, despite enduring a string of flops during the first seven months of the year.
As of Monday, Disney's year-to-date total stood at $956.8 million (including grosses from some 2003 holdovers) and the studio had two of the top three movies in the marketplace. Disney's movies released in 2004 have grossed $909.6 million so far.
Disney has managed to salvage what had been a dismal year with its release of The Incredibles, the computer-animated smash from Pixar Animation Studios that has grossed $177.5 million since its release Nov. 5.
Incredibles was bumped from the No. 1 spot by another Disney release, National Treasure, which opened with a surprisingly strong $35.1 million last weekend.
"We were very soft until August," said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Distribution. "But now we're on a strong roll again."
This will mark the record ninth time that Disney will reach $1 billion, even if it comes more than three months later in the year than it did in 2003. Last year, the studio reached the milestone during the first week of August on the strength of the $300 million-plus grossing blockbusters Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
The studio began 2004 as the reigning box-office champ, coming off one of the best years in its long history. But it began to sputter in the spring with such expensive failures as Hidalgo, The Alamo and the animated Home on the Range. Then the studio's first big summer releases, Around the World in 80 Days and King Arthur, opened dead on arrival.
"They are held to a very high standard," observed box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedia, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. "There was a lot of talk earlier in the year about their box-office performance. Unless they are doing just gangbuster business with every film, people wonder why they aren't doing better."
But things finally began to turn around with the July 30 release of The Village, a thriller that opened at No. 1 with a gross of $50.7 million.
And Treasure surprised most experts, who had not expected it to out-earn The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ($32 million) last weekend.
By Greg Hernande | Los Angeles Daily News
Posted November 26, 2004
BURBANK, CALIF. -- Incredibly, the resurgent movie division of the Walt Disney Co. is poised to hit the $1 billion mark in domestic box-office grosses this weekend, despite enduring a string of flops during the first seven months of the year.
As of Monday, Disney's year-to-date total stood at $956.8 million (including grosses from some 2003 holdovers) and the studio had two of the top three movies in the marketplace. Disney's movies released in 2004 have grossed $909.6 million so far.
Disney has managed to salvage what had been a dismal year with its release of The Incredibles, the computer-animated smash from Pixar Animation Studios that has grossed $177.5 million since its release Nov. 5.
Incredibles was bumped from the No. 1 spot by another Disney release, National Treasure, which opened with a surprisingly strong $35.1 million last weekend.
"We were very soft until August," said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Distribution. "But now we're on a strong roll again."
This will mark the record ninth time that Disney will reach $1 billion, even if it comes more than three months later in the year than it did in 2003. Last year, the studio reached the milestone during the first week of August on the strength of the $300 million-plus grossing blockbusters Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
The studio began 2004 as the reigning box-office champ, coming off one of the best years in its long history. But it began to sputter in the spring with such expensive failures as Hidalgo, The Alamo and the animated Home on the Range. Then the studio's first big summer releases, Around the World in 80 Days and King Arthur, opened dead on arrival.
"They are held to a very high standard," observed box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedia, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. "There was a lot of talk earlier in the year about their box-office performance. Unless they are doing just gangbuster business with every film, people wonder why they aren't doing better."
But things finally began to turn around with the July 30 release of The Village, a thriller that opened at No. 1 with a gross of $50.7 million.
And Treasure surprised most experts, who had not expected it to out-earn The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ($32 million) last weekend.
