The 98th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night was humbling for Walt Disney (DIS +2.30%). The entertainment giant won just a single Oscar among the 22 that were presented during the televised event. The one prize it did win wasn't even in one of the major categories. Its lone victory came in the visual effects category for Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in that blockbuster franchise.
Adding insult to injury, the show aired on Disney's own ABC network. It had to watch presenters hand half of the 22 Oscars to rival Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD +0.29%), led by the critical success of One Battle After Another and Sinners. Even Netflix (NFLX 9.71%) -- yes, Netflix -- walked away with seven times the hardware that Disney scored.
Image source: Getty Images.
The show must go on
Language aficionados upset by the grammatical abandon of this article's headline should really consider this double negative: Disney had two entries in the animated feature film category, which it has historically dominated. Elio and Zootopia 2 both fell short of the "Golden" run of Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters that ended with the South Korean flick taking top honors. It's the fourth consecutive year that Disney failed to grab the Oscar for animation.
It wasn't a great night for the House of Mouse, but Disney stock investors can relax. Collecting accolades from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is cool, but mainstream consumers are the ones who buy tickets at the multiplex. Disney got manhandled by its rivals being handed Oscar trophies, but no one came close to the media giant at the box office last year.
There were just three movies released by U.S. studios that topped $1 billion in worldwide theater ticket sales last year. Disney put out all three of them. Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and the live-action Lilo & Stitch reboot were the Disney theatrical releases collecting 10-figure box-office receipts apiece.
It's not a fluke. Disney had the only three movies exceeding $1 billion in global ticket sales in 2024 as well. It has led the global box office in ticket sales in all but one of the last 10 years.
Disney doesn't need the hardware. It has the heart where it matters. As great as One Battle After Another was as the top Oscar collector on Sunday, it closed out 2025 staring up at 26 other movies that sold more tickets worldwide.
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Show me the money
It's not just about the multiplex money. Disney's ecosystem is built to maximize the success of a theatrical blockbuster. It's not a coincidence that Disney opened a Zootopia-themed 4-D show at Florida's Animal Kingdom in early November last year, two weeks before the sequel hit movie theaters. An actual Zootopia ride opened at Shanghai Disneyland in 2023.
Hit movies help the now-profitable Disney+ and Hulu attract and retain subscribers, eventually populating the streaming services with the world's most-watched movies. Disney's consumer products division also has a strong playbook for cashing in on merchandising opportunities.
Warner Bros. Discovery won the critical vote over the weekend. It didn't free the financially struggling studio from putting itself up for a bidding war last year. Disney -- with its steady cadence of earnings beats -- keeps winning on the bottom line. The new CEO, who takes over on Wednesday, knows the juggling act that should keep Disney on top financially, where it counts.
Oh, and don't worry about the Academy Awards drought in animation. Its latest release, Hoppers, isn't just a financial success, scoring its strongest opening weekend for an original Disney animated feature since 2017. It has a 93% approval rating from movie critics on Rotten Tomatoes and an even higher audience satisfaction score. Toy Story 5 can also break through when it's released in June.
An Oscar? In Toy Story speak, Disney's not aiming for the car.
