Raphael Stevens

Disney’s post-pandemic box office has been riddled with starts and stops, but midway through 2024 the studio appears to have hit a groove.
“Inside Out 2” is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time and has topped $1.5 billion at the global box office.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” had the best domestic opening for an R-rated film and has scored more than $850 million in global ticket sales.
Still to come this year is “Moana 2,” the hotly anticipated sequel to 2016’s “Moana,” which was the most streamed movie of 2023.

Hugh Jackman, Robert Iger, and Ryan Reynolds at the Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” World Premiere held at David H. Koch Theater on July 22, 2024 in New York, New York. 
Kristina Bumphrey | Variety | Getty Images

After years of starts and stops at the box office, Disney appears to have hit a groove in 2024.
Its latest Pixar film, “Inside Out 2,” is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time, topping $1.5 billion at the global box office. Its first R-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe flick — “Deadpool & Wolverine” —broke opening weekend records for an R-rated film and is set to surpass the $1 billion mark before the end of its run.

And the box office hits aren’t expected to stop there.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the studio is set to release “Moana 2,” the hotly anticipated sequel to 2016’s “Moana.” While the first film generated a little less than $700 million at the global box office, audience fervor for more “Moana” content is expected to drive high ticket sales in November. After all, it was the most streamed film of 2023.
Disney has already seen success from its animated franchises this year, as “Inside Out 2” has generated nearly double the $850 million its predecessor secured in 2015.
“The billion-dollar club, while growing ever less exclusive with each passing year, is no less a remarkable achievement for any film to join its ranks, particularly when one studio has the potential to land a trifecta of such hits for film released in the same year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Such is the enviable position that Disney, after a fallow post-Pandemic period has returned to glory with a vengeance. They are in the midst of phenomenal comeback year for the studio.”
A wild card for the studio is December’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” a prequel to 2019’s “The Lion King.” While its predecessor generated $1.6 billion at the global box office, more than $1.1 billion of which came from international audiences, it’s unclear what appetite moviegoers have for this photorealistically animated sequel.

Disney has long been a box office champion, driving significant ticket sales domestically and globally. While its theatrical business is a relatively small part of its overall annual revenues, its a large part of Disney’s wider strategy. The company uses its theatrical successes across many of its other departments. Franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar and Pixar have transcended the big screen to become popular theme park lands and TV shows, and characters from those films appear on merchandise.
Disney’s recent box office rut came at a time when its theme parks were growing rapidly and generating enough revenue to balance out other pieces of the business that were less successful or still in the process of becoming profitable, like streaming platform Disney+. However, in the most recent quarter, Disney parks and experiences segment felt pressure due to lower consumer demand and inflation.
Having its theatrical business return to form is key for Disney because of how it can fuel other areas of the business.

Billion-dollar track record

Disney churns out more billion-dollar hits than anyone in the business. Of the 53 titles that have achieved this feat at the box office, more than half, or 27, have been under the Disney banner, according to data from Comscore.
Two of those films — 2009’s “Avatar” and 1997’s “Titanic” — were produced by 21st Century Fox prior to the 2019 merger of the two companies, but are considered part of Disney’s collection of billion-dollar features. Additionally, two Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man films that were co-produced by Disney and Sony topped $1 billion. However, those are not included in Disney’s haul because they were distributed by Sony.
In the year before the pandemic, Disney had seven theatrical releases top $1 billion at the box office. However, theater closures and production shutdowns, coupled with a creative team that was stretched too thin, led to a cinematic slump for the company in recent years.
Audiences and critics bemoaned Disney’s push for quantity, which sacrificed quality in major franchises. The company was also criticized for allowing some of its content to become too focused on social messages.
While “Avatar: The Way of Water” became one of the top all-time box-office hits in 2022, and several Marvel features topped $800 million in global ticket sales, Disney also saw some of its lowest animated feature hauls in decades and its lowest-ever MCU release.
“Much has been said about a few of Disney’s underwhelming box office performances in recent years but it was always a fool’s errand to count the studio out for long,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory. “Their leadership made clear and convincing strategic moves to address the commercial struggles of several key releases coming out of the pandemic era … We’re starting to see the early dividends of that pivot back to quality franchise content and a renewed emphasis on the moviegoing experience.”
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has addressed the company’s theatrical woes on several occasions since returning to the helm of the company in late 2022.
He admitted Disney’s fall from theatrical grace had a number of causes. He said that during Covid lockdowns, the company conditioned audiences to expect its films on streaming, and that pandemic-related restrictions made it difficult for executives to oversee its increased number of film and television productions. Additionally, he said the company’s push to feed Disney+ with new content diluted its quality.
Iger promised investors that Disney’s creatives would right the ship. And he appears to be making good on that pledge.
On Wednesday, he credited “Inside Out 2” for the company’s outperformance in its content sales and licensing division during the most recent quarter. The company noted that the first “Inside Out” drove more than 1.3 million Disney+ sign-ups and generated more than 100 million views globally since the first trailer for “Inside Out 2” was released last November.
He also touted the company’s slate of franchise features coming in the next few years.
“Let me just read to you the movies that we’ll be making and releasing in the next almost two years,” Iger said during Wednesday’s earning call. “We have ‘Moana,’ ‘Mufasa,’ ‘Captain America,’ ‘Snow White,’ ‘Thunderbolts*’, ‘Fantastic 4,’ ‘Zootopia,’ ‘Avatar,’ ‘Avengers,’ ‘Mandalorian’ and ‘Toy Story,’ just to name a few. And when you think about not only the potential of those in the box office but the potential of those to drive global streaming value, I think there’s a reason to be bullish about where we’re headed.”

Upcoming Disney franchise film releases

2024

“Alien: Romulus”
“Moana 2”
“Mufasa: The Lion King”

2025

“Captain America: Brave New World”
“Snow White”
“Thunderbolts*”
“Fantastic Four: First Steps”
“Tron: Ares”
“Blade”
“Zootopia 2”
“Avatar 3”

2026

“Avengers: Doomsday”
“The Mandalorian and Grogu”
“Toy Story 5”
“Moana”
Untitled “Star Wars”

2027

“Avengers: Secret Wars”
Untitled “Star Wars”
“Avatar 4”

Investors are expected to get a bigger glimpse into Disney’s theatrical plans during its biannual D23 Expo taking place in Anaheim, California this weekend.
“The past speaks for itself, but there’s no doubting the importance of Disney’s role in the industry’s present and future,” said Robbins. “If Marvel and Pixar continue their turnarounds, and if the Star Wars franchise can eventually execute a similar rebound under Lucasfilm, it won’t be long before the parent studio returns to some familiar box office prowess up and down the calendar each year.” More

Under Armour beat Wall Street’s quarterly estimates on the top and bottom lines.
The company adjusted its full-year profit guidance after settling a securities lawsuit from 2017 for $434 million.
Sales fell in North America, online and across apparel, footwear and accessories.

Under Armour apparel is displayed at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store on May 16, 2024 in Petaluma, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Under Armour on Thursday said quarterly sales fell 14% in North America, and adjusted its full-year profit guidance after settling a years-old securities lawsuit for $434 million.
Still, the company beat Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines.

Here’s how the athletic apparel company did in its first fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 1 cent adjusted vs. a loss of 8 cents expected
Revenue: $1.18 billion vs. $1.15 billion expected

In the three-months ended June 30, Under Armour reported a loss of $305.4 million, or 70 cents per share, compared with a profit of $10 million, or 2 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time expenses, it reported a profit of $4 million, or 1 cent per share.
Sales dropped to $1.18 billion, down about 10% from $1.32 billion a year earlier.
In late June, Under Armour agreed to settle a years-old securities lawsuit for $434 million about three weeks before a trial was slated to begin. In 2017, Under Armour was accused of defrauding shareholders about its revenue growth in a bid to meet Wall Street’s forecasts.
In a press release, the company said it was not admitting fault or wrongdoing but had agreed to end the case – about seven years after it was filed – because of “the costs and risks inherent in litigation.” Under Armour said it would pay the settlement using cash from its revolving credit facility.

The company now expects to swing to a loss in fiscal 2025. It’s forecasting losses per share to be between 53 cents and 56 cents and adjusted earnings per share to be between 19 cents and 22 cents.
Under Armour previously expected full-year earnings of 2 cents to 5 cents per share, and adjusted earnings between 18 cents and 21 cents per share.
The athletic apparel company is in the midst of a broad restructuring plan as it fights to regain relevance, reverse a sales slump and boost profits. Earlier this year, Under Armour said it would lay off an unknown number of workers, cut back promotions and discounts and streamline its assortment to be more competitive. It’s also looking to take a page out of Nike’s playbook and position Under Armour as a premium brand.
The restructuring came two months after former Marriott executive Stephanie Linnartz was ousted as Under Armour’s CEO and its founder Kevin Plank returned to the helm once again.
In a statement on Thursday, Plank said the company is “encouraged by early progress” in its efforts. But sales still tumbled across Under Armour’s business during the quarter.
In North America, Under Armour’s largest market, sales dropped 14% to $709 million, but came in better than the $669.1 million that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. Wholesale revenue dropped 8% to $681 million, while direct-to-consumer sales declined 12% to $480 million.
Sales at stores owned and operated by Under Armour fell 3%, while online sales plunged a staggering 25% — a drop off the company attributed to “planned decreases in promotion activities.”
Apparel revenue fell 8%, footwear sales dropped 15% and accessories revenue slid 5%.
As Under Armour looks to get back to growth and position itself as a premium retailer in a crowded athletic apparel space, it’s adding fresh talent and expanding into sustainable fashion.
On Tuesday, the retailer announced it had acquired sustainable fashion brand Unless Collective and will bring on the brand’s founder, former Adidas-exec Eric Liedtke, as executive vice president of brand strategy. 
“Eric will … be globally accountable for amplifying Under Armour’s brand identity and storytelling, its comprehensive strategic planning process, and executing transformational initiatives that accelerate growth for UA while continuing to lead and curate, UNLESS,” a press release about the acquisition said.
“He will report to President & CEO Kevin Plank and oversee UA’s brand presence through category marketing, consumer intelligence, creative, marketing operations, loyalty, social media, sports marketing, and all strategy functions,” the release said.
Unless bills itself as “the world’s first all-plant, zero-plastic regenerative fashion brand” and said it was created to prove that plants could replace plastics in the manufacturing of apparel and footwear. 
Read the full earnings release here. More

Restaurant Brands International’s quarterly revenue was better than expected.
Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons was the restaurant company’s strongest performer during the quarter.

A general view of a Tim Hortons Drive-Thru coffeehouse and restaurant at Lakeside Retail Park on February 5, 2024 in Grays, United Kingdom.
John Keeble | Getty Images

Restaurant Brands International on Thursday reported quarterly revenue that beat analysts’ expectations, fueled by better-than-expected sales at Tim Hortons and the company’s international restaurants.
Shares of Restaurant Brands fell less than 1% in premarket trading.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 86 cents adjusted vs. 87 cents expected
Revenue: $2.08 billion vs. $2.02 billion expected

Restaurant Brands reported second-quarter net income of $399 million, or 88 cents per share, up from $351 million, or 77 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 86 cents per share.
Net sales rose 17% to $2.08 billion, boosted by recent acquisitions of Burger King restaurants in the U.S. The company’s same-store sales increased 1.9%.
Out of Restaurant Brands’ four chains, Tim Hortons performed the best, with same-store sales growth of 4.6%. Popeyes’ same-store sales rose 0.5%.

Both Burger King and Firehouse Subs reported same-store sales declines of 0.1% for the quarter.
Restaurant Brands’ international locations saw same-store sales growth of 2.6%.
Two days before the quarter ended, Restaurant Brands completed its acquisition of Popeyes China, which will be included in its results next quarter. The company’s new Restaurant Holdings segment includes the performance of Popeyes China and the restaurants it acquired from Carrols, which was Burger King’s largest U.S. franchisee before Restaurant Brands bought it.

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