Walt Disney (DIS 1.37%) investors caught a break last month. Shares of the media stock rallied in December, turning its 6% year-to-date decline through the first 11 months of the year into a 3% gain for all of 2025. Yes, Disney still lost to the market, and badly, but it has momentum heading into what should be a busy 2026.
After a year of bidding wars among the big six media companies, Disney stock has a lot to prove. It starts in January, of course. Let's look at some key dates that investors should watch closely this month.
Image source: Disney.
Jan. 16
January used to be a sleepy time for Disney's theme-parks business. Holiday crowds would disperse, and seasonal deals would woo the thrifty to the world's most visited gated attractions. Disney has decided to make its own luck over the years, creating events to bring parkgoers back through the turnstiles. That's happening on both coasts this month.
In Florida, Disney World kicks off the Epcot International Festival of the Arts on Jan. 16, spanning more than five weeks of art displays and kiosks serving limited-time food and beverages.
In California, Disneyland After Dark is a series of late-night themed events throughout the year. The fun kicks off on Jan. 22 with Sweethearts' Nite, a celebration ahead of St. Valentine's Day to cherish with a significant other, family member, or even best friend. As it's a hard-ticket event, Disney gets to sell admissions during the day for regular park guests, only to swamp that crowd out in the evening for Disneyland After Dark affairs. Making money twice on a day that used to be dead at Disneyland is brilliant.
NYSE: DIS
Key Data Points
Jan. 27
Investors are breathing easier now that Disney's premium streaming services have turned profitable in fiscal 2024. After losing billions annually with Disney+, Hulu, and other online initiatives, the House of Mouse is now a leader among streaming service stocks.
Armed with financial flexibility, Disney can now leverage its massive installed base of subscribers and the scalability it represents to produce a steady stream of must-watch content. There's no offseason when it comes to streaming. Disney needs to keep its pipeline gushing with shows and movies to keep its viewers from abandoning the service.
Fortunately for Disney, there will be plenty of new arrivals across Disney+ and Hulu. The month began with all five Indiana Jones movies on the Disney+ platform simultaneously for the first time since its launch in 2019. This week marks the streaming debut of Tron: Ares, just three months after its theatrical release. Theme-park enthusiasts can also look forward to Disneyland Handcrafted, a highly anticipated documentary on the gated attraction in California that started it all, featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage.
However, the most notable addition might be Marvel's Wonder Man. The new series hits Disney+ on Jan. 27. This isn't your typical Marvel action feature. It's a show about the making of a movie, a satirical love letter to both Hollywood and Marvel. It's different, but the same thing could've been said about WandaVision when it came out five years ago. It helped open the possibilities of how a streaming service can stretch the boundaries in a way it couldn't through traditional outlets.
Jan. 30
Disney's studio business closed out the 2025 calendar year in rousing fashion. Zootopia 2, released ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, has become its highest-grossing animated film of all time. A few weeks later, Avatar: Fire and Ash was released. It became Disney's third 2025 theatrical release to top $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide. No other U.S. studio had even one release cross the barrier.
Disney's massive entertainment empire has many moving parts. A hit movie can create moneymaking opportunities across its various attractions and broadcasting businesses. What will 2026 have in store for Disney?
The new year will start off quietly. Disney doesn't even have a new movie hitting theaters until the final weekend of January, and that's a low-profile release. Send Help is a psychological thriller starring Rachel McAdams about two workplace rivals as the lone survivors of a plane crash. Disney's 20th Century Studios has horror maestro Sam Raimi directing. It will find its fan base, but it's likely to fall short of other films Disney will be putting out later this year.
Toy Story 5, The Mandalorian and Grogu, and a live-action remake of Moana will be some of Disney's major releases. As it did in 2025, Disney is saving its biggest film for the end with Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday premiering in mid-December.
