Universal Pictures has ranked as the highest-grossing studio at the 2023 box office after the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer and M3GAN. According to reports, Universal’s 24 films collected $4.907 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Universal’s victory is notable because it marks the first time since 2015 that Disney was not the global box office leader.

Universal was followed by Disney in terms of market share as its 17 new films, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and The Little Mermaid, ranked at $4.827 billion globally. The studio partially attributed the $80 million difference to the fact that Disney released seven fewer movies than Universal in 2023.

According to IANS, it also highlighted that Disney had the most titles of any studio in the top 10 this year. This included four of the highest-grossing global releases and three of the biggest domestic releases. However, for the first time in a very long time, Disney did not have one of the top three movies.

The top three spots belong to Warner Bros.’ Barbie with $1.4 billion Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie ranking at $1.3 billion and Oppenheimer with $950 million. This is the first time since 2014 that none of Disney’s movies have crossed the $1 billion benchmark.

Disney indeed remains a box office powerhouse, but the reality is that most of the studio’s 2023 tentpoles failed to live up to expectations. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, at $845 million was the only clear victory.

A string of underperforming sequels and remakes, including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, and Haunted Mansion resulted in the studio ceding the box office crown to Universal.