Entertainment giant Disney (DIS) may be under the gun with a new, and downright massive, lawsuit aimed at it over its runaway hit Moana 2, but it has some much better news that just emerged: Disney won 2024 at the box office, noted a report from CNBC, and it has plans to make 2025 a big year too. Investors were satisfied, and shares notched up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Interestingly, ticket sales for 2024 were down 3.4% against 2023, hitting a total of $8.74 billion. But what makes that number especially compelling is that, back around June, 2024’s box office take was somewhere around 27% shy of the same time in 2023. That means the second half of 2023 saw a major surge in box office take, and did it ever. Massive tentpole Disney releases emerged, including the lawsuit-bait Moana 2, as well as Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2.
Basically, Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian noted, the early going of 2024 was still trying to shrug off the impacts of multiple labor strikes. That resulted in a crimp in product flow, and hindered box office numbers because there was just nothing to sell for a stretch. That changed in the second half of 2024—man, did it ever—and the box office came roaring back with a monster take.
Planning for 2025
And the good news here, particularly for investors, is that 2025 looks like it will be another big year. Whether it is as big as this year, or as big as 2023 at around $9 billion, remains to be seen. But Disney already has a slate of titles planned for release this year that should catch a lot of interest.
Business Insider noted that there are 12 new Disney movies set to hit in 2025. Pixar will have one film in the roster, Elio, about a boy who becomes Earth’s ambassador to a conclave of alien races. Three new Marvel movies will get in on the action, as well as one more entry in the Avatar series. Two new live action remakes, including Lilo & Stitch and the highly controversial Snow White remake, will also get in on theater releases.
Is Disney Stock a Buy or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on DIS stock based on 17 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 17.87% rally in its share price over the past year, the average DIS price target of $126.84 per share implies 16.7% upside potential.
