LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Its board of directors may be in turmoil, but Walt Disney Co.'s movie division is hitting new highs at the box office.
Disney said Wednesday that it topped the $3 billion level in worldwide revenue for 2003 over the Thanksgiving weekend, shattering last year's mark set by Sony Corp..
Films such as "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" -- two tales that take place on the high seas -- helped buoy Disney to $3.08 billion. "Nemo" and "Pirates," released during the summer season, each took in $300 million in domestic box office revenue and hold the No. 1 and 2 slots for 2003 releases thus far.
________ Cook, chairman of Disney's studio group, said it wasn't necessarily any significant shift in strategy that helped the company to a record year.
"This was one of those flukey kind of years where everything fell into order," Cook said. "Market conditions and things just sort of have to fall our way."
Disney, however, parted ways with the rest of the industry over the summer, as it was the only major studio with more than one summer release not to put out a sequel. Other films on the Disney summer slate were "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," "Freaky Friday" and "Open Range." DreamWorks SKG's sole release was the animated flop "Sinbad."
Disney's summer fare was one of the sparsest collections as well, but had the biggest impact, per film, with $855 million in total revenue or $171 million on average.
Sony's 2002 record was $2.864 billion, the year it released the $404 million "Spider-Man" and a number of other $100 million-plus films.
While it handily beat the worldwide record, Disney is unlikely to beat Sony's $1.55 billion domestic box-office record of last year.
"I think everybody recognizes they've had a phenomenal year on the film side," Sony spokesman Steve Elzer said of Disney.
Disney's films are marketed under its Buena Vista Pictures division. No films from its Miramax division were included domestically, but some of New York-based Miramax's films were handled by the international unit. Buena Vista's international group also handles overseas distribution for other studios' films, such as Vivendi Universal's "Bruce Almighty."
While Disney has set a record, it will be a struggle for the rest of the film industry to do the same, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"We're going to be down vs. last year," Dergarabedian said. He added the industry will struggle to reach the $9.3 billion in domestic box office attained last year.
Even if box office revenue does meet that mark, it will come thanks to inflation, he added. The industry is on pace for a 4 percent to 5 percent drop in attendance.
Disney's news comes right after two company board members, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, resigned and called for Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner to join them. Roy Disney is the nephew of the company's founder and was its vice chairman. Gold is Roy Disney's partner in the investment firm Shamrock Holdings.
While Eisner's job seems secure, the company's shares have slid over the last two days. Disney stock was down 2.5 percent Tuesday, and lost another 73 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at $21.85 on Wednesday.
Disney said Wednesday that it topped the $3 billion level in worldwide revenue for 2003 over the Thanksgiving weekend, shattering last year's mark set by Sony Corp..
Films such as "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" -- two tales that take place on the high seas -- helped buoy Disney to $3.08 billion. "Nemo" and "Pirates," released during the summer season, each took in $300 million in domestic box office revenue and hold the No. 1 and 2 slots for 2003 releases thus far.
________ Cook, chairman of Disney's studio group, said it wasn't necessarily any significant shift in strategy that helped the company to a record year.
"This was one of those flukey kind of years where everything fell into order," Cook said. "Market conditions and things just sort of have to fall our way."
Disney, however, parted ways with the rest of the industry over the summer, as it was the only major studio with more than one summer release not to put out a sequel. Other films on the Disney summer slate were "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," "Freaky Friday" and "Open Range." DreamWorks SKG's sole release was the animated flop "Sinbad."
Disney's summer fare was one of the sparsest collections as well, but had the biggest impact, per film, with $855 million in total revenue or $171 million on average.
Sony's 2002 record was $2.864 billion, the year it released the $404 million "Spider-Man" and a number of other $100 million-plus films.
While it handily beat the worldwide record, Disney is unlikely to beat Sony's $1.55 billion domestic box-office record of last year.
"I think everybody recognizes they've had a phenomenal year on the film side," Sony spokesman Steve Elzer said of Disney.
Disney's films are marketed under its Buena Vista Pictures division. No films from its Miramax division were included domestically, but some of New York-based Miramax's films were handled by the international unit. Buena Vista's international group also handles overseas distribution for other studios' films, such as Vivendi Universal's "Bruce Almighty."
While Disney has set a record, it will be a struggle for the rest of the film industry to do the same, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"We're going to be down vs. last year," Dergarabedian said. He added the industry will struggle to reach the $9.3 billion in domestic box office attained last year.
Even if box office revenue does meet that mark, it will come thanks to inflation, he added. The industry is on pace for a 4 percent to 5 percent drop in attendance.
Disney's news comes right after two company board members, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, resigned and called for Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner to join them. Roy Disney is the nephew of the company's founder and was its vice chairman. Gold is Roy Disney's partner in the investment firm Shamrock Holdings.
While Eisner's job seems secure, the company's shares have slid over the last two days. Disney stock was down 2.5 percent Tuesday, and lost another 73 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at $21.85 on Wednesday.