Business

2017 is going to be an absolutely huge year for Disney

Posted February 09, 2015 10:00 pm

Kirsten Acuna

<img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54da5370eab8eaf81d75774a-906-679/sony-the-amazing-spider-man-1.png" border="0" alt="sony the amazing spider man">Disney's 2017 lineup just became even bigger.

Monday evening, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures announced a huge partnership that will allow Spider-Man to appear in future Marvel movies. The deal included a new Spider-Man movie that will hit theaters July 28, 2017.

Now that Spider-Man has been added to the lineup, Disney's 2017 has the possibility of becoming one the studio's biggest years if not the best at the box office.

That's saying something because this year alone is expected to be a huge year for Disney, which owns Marvel. The studio will release two of this year's most anticipated films: "The Avengers" sequel "The Avengers: Age of Ultron," and "Star Wars: Episode VII."

The first "Avengers" film grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide. "Star Wars" on its own has the potential of becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. Analysts have predicted the sequel could hit $2 billion at theaters worldwide. The Guardian made a case that "Episode VII" could be the first $3 billion film. (For reference, 2009's "Avatar" made $2.7 billion worldwide.)

So how is 2017 shaping up?

The addition of Spider-Man will give Walt Disney Studios three Marvel movies in theaters that year. Generally, the Mouse House puts out two per year.

Disney, which owns Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Marvel Studios under its umbrella of movie-making vehicles, will also put out "Star Wars: Episode VIII" and a long-awaited "Toy Story" sequel.

A fifth "Pirates of the Caribbean" film with Johnny Depp is also expected.

Here's a look at Disney's big movies for 2017 so far:

<tbody>

<tr>

<td>Release date</td>

<td>Movie</td>

<td>Disney property</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>"Guardians of the Galaxy 2"</td>

<td>Marvel</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>"Toy Story 4"</td>

<td>Pixar</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales"</td>

<td>Disney</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>untitled Spider-Man movie</td>

<td>Marvel / Sony Pictures</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>"Thor: Ragnarok"</td>

<td>Marvel</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>"Star Wars: Episode VIII"</td>

<td>Lucasfilm</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

Another Pixar movie, currently untitled, may be released in November.

The Street's Chris Katje predicts three of those, "Toy Story 4," "Spider-Man," and "Star Wars," will be at least $1 billion movies.

"Toy Story 3" grossed over $1 billion at theaters in 2010. Another "Pirates" film has a good chance of cracking $1 billion also. The fourth film made $963.4 million.

The "Spider-Man" estimate may be a bit high considering the two most recent films featuring the hero each failed to crack $800 million at the box office. (The highest-grossing "Spider-Man" movie is 2007's critically panned "Spider-Man 3," with $890 million.)

With five Spider-Man movies between 2002 and 2014, it is unclear how receptive people will be to a third Spider-Man reboot in such a small time period.

However, fans are pretty excited for Spidey's triumphant return to Marvel. After the announcement was made, Marvel became a trending topic on Twitter, with the hashtag #WelcomeHomeSpiderman becoming a favorite on the social media site.

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