In 2019, the box office belonged to Disney
By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer
Disney dominated American moviegoing more than any studio ever has before in 2019. The Walt Disney Co. accounted for about 38% of domestic moviegoing, easily the largest market share ever for one studio — a whopping $13 billion in worldwide box office. That includes films from 20th Century Fox, the 84-year-old studio that Disney gobbled up in March in a $71 billion acquisition. Once “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” inevitably reaches the milestone, it will mark the studio’s seventh such $1 billion movies in 2019. Despite Disney’s considerable firepower, overall ticket sales in U.S. and Canada theaters were down 4.4% from the year before, and many are forecasting another down year in 2020.