The Force truly was with Disney at the box office in 2019.
Now that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has passed the $1 billion mark worldwide, it's official: Disney released a total of seven movies in 2019 that grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.
This is by far the most billion-dollar movies ever released by a studio in a single year. The previous record was set by Disney itself, which released four movies that grossed $1 billion in 2016, CNBC notes. But prior to 2019, Polygon points out the most billion-dollar movies to come out in one year across all studios was five, and Disney leaped past that number all by itself.
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Disney's seven billion-dollar movies were Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Frozen 2, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Only two other movies from rival studios reached $1 billion last year: Joker and Spider-Man: Far From Home, the latter of which Disney was still involved in since Marvel Studios produced it.
Despite its mixed reviews, The Rise of Skywalker was always expected to gross at least $1 billion at the box office, but it took longer to do so than the critically-acclaimed previous two episodes. The film reached $1 billion after 28 days, Variety notes, whereas Star Wars: The Force Awakens got there in 12 days and Star Wars: The Last Jedi got there in 19 days. In the end, Deadline expects The Rise of Skywalker to finish around $1.1 billion, a decline from The Last Jedi's total of $1.3 billion and the lowest worldwide gross of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
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