I've talked about the success of Sony's (SNE) year at the box office, but The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) also had a tremendous year, with their studio division generating $3.26 billion in global box office revenue for 2006. In a couple of firsts, the company accounted for the year's two top box office releases along with the top three DVD domestic releases.
The strategy of streamlining the company and centering on a smaller amount of releases is paying off for the company.
The twin blockbusters of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and Disney-Pixar's "Cars" propelled the studio division into being a much more profitable part of the company than it has been in the recent past. "Pirates" brought in $1.6 billion while "Cars" accounted for $462 million globally.
It's renewed focus on family franchises for its movie business has already paid off huge for them.
The top three domestic DVDs of the year belong to Disney with "Pirates," "Cars" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," finishing ahead of the pack.
"Cars" has sold over 13 million DVDs, "Narnia" is in second with 12 million, and "Pirates," released on Dec. 5, sold 10.5 million copies in the first week of its release. Figures for "Pirates" after the first week aren't available yet.
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