The numbers are in and the numbers are: $42 billion globally, with North America contributing an impressive $11.9 billion of that.

As reported here at TNPS last month, US takings were on target to beat the 2016 record of $11.4 billion, and final results show a 4% jump on 2016, and 6.7% growth on the 2017 numbers.

So much for video streaming killing publishing and the Box Office. A record year for Hollywood, driven by books and comics


Currency fluctuations kept international revenue lower than it might otherwise have been, but still it beat the $40.6 record set in 2017.
Disney’s output accounted for 26% of US and 17% of global revenue in 2018, with books and comics driving the gains.
As observed in the December TNPS post.

It’s hard to find many films, at the Box Office or on the streaming services, that do not originate in the publishing sector and that do not, in turn, generate more interest in the books, comics and graphic novels that spawned them.
Black Panther, anyone? Aquaman? The Avengers: Infinity Wars? Deadpool 2?
Comics and graphic novels have certainly been a major contribution to the 2018 Box Office success, but so have “regular” books.
Try Crazy Rich Asians. Or Mary Poppins Returns. Or The Hate U Give. Or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Or To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Or Annihilation. Or…

All this despite despite competition from video streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.
And of course much of the output from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu et al also derives from, books and comics, and this in turn drives comic and book sales.
A healthy, symbiotic relationship for all parties.