Universal Reaches $4B Worldwide, First Studio of 2017

This weekend, Universal Pictures became the first studio of the year to reach $4 billion at the global box office.

On the strength of such films as The Fate of the FuriousDespicable Me 3Fifty Shades DarkerGet OutSplit, and this past December’s Sing, Universal has now earned $1.26 billion domestically and $2.79 billion overseas. Although that ranks in second place domestically so far behind Disney, it’s first place overseas.

Leading the way was The Fate of the Furious, which became the 11th-highest grossing film of all time globally with $1.23 billion, one of only 30 movies to ever reach the billion mark worldwide. It’s also the 6th-highest grossing film of all time overseas with $1.01 billion, one of only six films ever to reach the billion mark overseas. Fate also became the highest-grossing foreign title of all time in China.

Other top titles globally include Despicable Me 3 with $732.5 million to date and still rising, Sing with $632.3 million, The Mummy with $392.5 million, Fifty Shades Darker with $380.2 million, Split with $277.8 million, and Get Out with $252.6 million.

In 2015, Universal set an at-the-time industry record with $6.9 billion globally, on the heels of such smashes as Jurassic WorldFurious 7, and Minions. Disney then beat that record the very next year in 2016, with just more than $7 billion.

While Universal may very well remain the global leader by 2017’s end, it will prove almost impossible to surpass $7 billion and set a new industry record. For comparison, en route to their 2016 record, Disney had already reached $4 billion globally by May 29 of that year — almost two full months earlier than Universal did this year.

Universal’s slate of upcoming releases for the rest of 2017 is led by December’s Pitch Perfect 3.

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