Why Disney’s success is a growing concern after ‘Star Wars’ acquisition

For the past several years, Disney has been breaking one box office record after the other ever since The Avengers released in 2012.

It isn’t hard to see why. With Disney’s ownership of Marvel, the Star Wars universe, and Pixar, in addition to its own animated and live-action movies, Disney has consistently been the most profitable studio in Hollywood; the first to gross over $5 billion consecutively for three years. Quite simply, Disney is the biggest player in town.

To its credit, Disney isn’t undeserving in its recognition. Hell, the company basically wins an Oscar every year when an Academy voter sees its name under the listed nominees. So while it’s understandable why Disney has become a cinematic titan, it is nonetheless concerning how its rapid growth will impact the industry as a whole.

Disney is one of six major film studios in the business right now, with the other five being Warner Bros., Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony, and Paramount. Disney currently owns the largest market share at 21 percent, while Warner Bros. shares the second largest at 18 percent, according to The Numbers.

This doesn’t seem all that significant until you realize that Disney purchased 20th Century Fox last year and is finalizing the deal later this year. That deal went through in March, so Disney absorbed Fox’s 12 percent share, bringing Disney’s total value up to 33 percent.

That means Disney owns more than a third of the U.S. film industry. This could be considered a dangerous precedent that encourages a monopoly and stifles a competitive market. The U.S. Department of Justice lost its chance to block the sale. Perhaps now we’ll see the film industry as we know it quickly become the Disney industry.