Disney’s Pixar Holds the Key to Film Success

The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS) Pixar continues to boost its Studio Entertainment segment with hit movie releases. To date, Pixar has produced 18 films, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Cars. These movies have generated business of more than $11 billion for the company worldwide. Even its latest movie, Cars 3, released this year, saw good business at the box office, collecting ~$378 million worldwide and $152 million domestically, according to The Numbers.

The graph above shows how the last five Pixar movies have performed at the domestic box office. All of the films garnered more than $100 million at the box office, with an average of $277 million per film.

Pixar released its first movie, Toy Story, in 1995. After its acquisition by Disney for $7.4 billion in 2006, the animated studio continued to launch successful movies, such as WALL-E and Ratatouille. WALL-E also won an Oscar. To date, Pixar has earned sixteen Oscars, seven Golden Globes, and eleven Grammy awards.

Pixar has generated business of more than $7 billion after being bought by Disney. Its animated movies also boost the company’s Consumer Products and Interactive Media segment. This year, Disney’s merchandise business was driven by the launch of Cars 3.

The company’s Parks & Resorts segment also benefited from the Pixar studio movie release. Disney’s Toy Story Land and Cars Land are quite popular among tourists.

In fiscal 2018, the company will be releasing two movies, Coco and The Incredibles 2. As The Incredibles, released in 2004, has collected more than $600 million globally, it’s expected that the next film of the series will drive the company’s film business in fiscal 2018 and help the company compete with peers Paramount (VIAB), Comcast (CMCSA), and Columbia Pictures (SNE).