Disney’s Buying Spree Will Reshape Hollywood for Years to Come

When Captain America bursts back onto the big screen on May 6, audiences will likely be thrilled by his much anticipated fight with Iron Man. The outcome of the battle, however, is a foregone conclusion: Walt Disney will emerge victorious. Box-office analysts say Captain America: Civil War—the eighth Marvel film from Disney since it bought the company in 2009 and the third Captain America film—could rival the biggest hits in the franchise. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and advanced ticket sales have eclipsed those of other superhero movies, confounding naysayers who were warning that moviegoers might be tiring of the genre.

The likely blockbuster kicks off a potentially record-breaking summer for ticket sales and what analysts say could be Disney’s best year at the movies in its history. Disney, with a 25 percent market share this year, is dominating the film business to an unprecedented degree. In the first half, Disney will have the No. 1 movie for 13 of those 26 weeks, predicts Barton Crockett, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. “They will have the highest share in a generation, or maybe of all time,” he says.