The 2025 US domestic box office results have been released. According to the latest data, Disney (NYSE: DIS) will dominate the overall US box office market in 2025, not only maintaining its top position, but also likely to retain its throne this year through heavyweight sequel films and IPs.
Disney leads North American box office in 2025
According to data released by Comscore , the total box office revenue in the United States and Canada in 2025 is approximately $9.05 billion, an increase of about 4% compared to 2024. Disney, with $2.49 billion in domestic box office revenue, captured a staggering 28% of the total, firmly holding the top spot for the year. Following Disney is Warner Bros. Discovery Channel with approximately $1.9 billion, accounting for 21% of the box office; Universal Pictures follows closely with $1.7 billion, or 20%. These three major film studios collectively control nearly 70% of the North American box office market.
Disney maintains its dominance at the box office thanks to its well-known intellectual property.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore, points out that the reason why major studios have been able to maintain their dominance for so long is that they own multiple successful and independently operating subsidiary brands. Disney owns Marvel, Warner Bros. owns New Line Cinema, and Universal Pictures is mainly represented by Illumination Entertainment, which creates a three-way competition among the three major studios in terms of overall box office and market share.
Data shows that Disney's outstanding performance mainly stems from its widely popular existing IPs. In 2025, Disney will occupy four of the top ten spots in the North American box office: Lilo & Stitch, Formula 2 (the 2016 animated sequel), Marvel's "Fantastic Four: The First Step," and "Avatar: Ashes." All of these works are sequels or extensions of existing IPs, further confirming that the box office market is still dominated by non-original content. These films have a clear advantage in brand marketing and audience awareness. Nine of the top ten films in North America in 2025 are adaptations of existing IPs. The number one film in North America, *A Minecraft Movie*, is an extension of a video game IP. Lilo & Stitch (number two) and Superman (number three) are also well-known IPs. Only Warner Bros.' *Sinners* is an original work.
Despite the strong performance of some big-budget original films in 2025, De Galabédian emphasized that the overall market trend has not fundamentally changed. He pointed out that the number of high-profile sequels and well-known IP films to be released in 2026 is expected to surpass that of 2025, a market trend that is particularly favorable for Disney. In the current market environment where big-budget content strategies continue to focus on well-known IPs, Disney will continue its long-term success.
This article, "How Will Disney Dominate the Box Office Market in 2025?", originally appeared on ABMedia ABMedia .
