Final Report

Final Report
Data Visualization (STAT 302)

Author

Miracle Ramos

Published

March 14, 2025

Introduction

Between 2006 and 2016, Disney executed three of the most consequential acquisitions in entertainment history: Pixar ($7.4B, 2006), Marvel ($4.0B, 2009), and Lucasfilm ($4.05B, 2012). This report examines how those acquisitions reshaped Disney’s box office performance using inflation-adjusted gross revenue across 579 films.

Motivation

I chose this dataset because it shows Disney’s full box office history, making it ideal for exploring how its acquisitions impacted financial performance. I also love Disney, so this dataset is particularly interesting to me personally. I am especially interested in understanding how acquiring Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), and Lucasfilm (2012) changed Disney’s box office performance over time.

By analyzing this data, I can explore key questions like:

Did Disney’s acquisitions actually lead to higher box office success?
Do acquired studios generate a disproportionate share of revenue relative to the number of films they produce?

Data source

The dataset used for this analysis is disney_boxoffice_history.csv, sourced from Kaggle. It contains historical box office data for Disney films, including total gross revenue and inflation-adjusted revenue. The dataset was originally titled Disney Movies Dataset on Kaggle and was downloaded from the following source:

Citation:
Suvroo. (n.d.). Disney Movies Dataset. Kaggle. Retrieved from Kaggle

Data Overview

Table 1: Summary of Disney Box Office Dataset

Metric	Value
Total_Observations	579
Total_Variables	6
Numeric_Variables	2
Categorical_Variables	4
Missing_Values	0

From Table 1, we can see that the dataset contains 579 observations and 6 variables, with a mix of 2 numeric variables and 4 categorical variables. There are no missing values so we will have complete data for our analysis. The numeric variables, including revenue figures, allow for financial comparisons, while categorical variables, such as genre and MPAA rating, help analyze trends across different film categories.

Average Revenue Per Film by Studio

Lucasfilm leads all studios with an average of $733M per film, driven by just two releases: The Force Awakens and Rogue One. Marvel follows at $354M across 9 films, and Pixar at $302M across 9 films. Disney’s own label averages just $93M per film — a figure that reflects not poor performance, but sheer volume. With 128 films released in the same period, Disney’s average is pulled down by a long tail of smaller releases across a wide range of genres and budgets. The acquired studios, by contrast, release selectively and at scale, which is precisely what drives their outsized per-film averages.

Disney’s Average Film Revenue Over Time

Disney’s portfolio average was relatively flat from 1995 through 2005, hovering between $65M–$115M per film. Following the Pixar acquisition in 2006, average revenue began trending upward. The Marvel and Lucasfilm acquisitions accelerated this further, with the portfolio average reaching $240M by 2015 — more than triple the pre-acquisition baseline.

Top 10 Highest-Grossing Disney Films Since 2006

Eight of Disney’s ten highest-grossing films since 2006 belong to an acquired studio. Star Wars: The Force Awakens tops the list at $937M, followed by The Avengers at $660M. The only Disney-studio films in the top 10 are Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($545M) and Frozen ($415M).

Key Findings

Acquired studios average 3–8x more revenue per film than Disney’s core label
Disney’s portfolio average revenue per film grew 3x between 2005 and 2016
8 of the top 10 highest-grossing Disney films since 2006 came from acquired studios
Acquired studios produce a disproportionate share of revenue relative to film output, suggesting Disney’s acquisition strategy was highly effective at the box office

Source dataset covers Walt Disney Studios theatrical releases through 2016. All revenue figures are inflation-adjusted.