Chris Hemsworth attends The Cinema Society's screening of Marvel Studios' 'Thor: Ragnarok' at the Whitby Hotel in New York City, US, October 29, 2017. AFP/Getty Images North America/Jamie McCarthy/Files

 

LOS ANGELES: The thunderous success of Thor: Ragnarok has helped Walt Disney Studios become the first distributor in history to hit $5 billion in annual global box office sales three times, it said Thursday.

The superhero movie ? made by Disney's Marvel subsidiary ? is on the verge of surpassing $800 million worldwide, putting the company's haul for 2017 at $1.8 billion in North America and $3.2 billion abroad.

It is the third year in a row that the entertainment giant has passed the $5-billion benchmark, with Star Wars: The Last Jedi ? its sure-fire biggest hit ? not due in theatres for another two weeks.

Last year was the first in which all five of Walt Disney Studios' top brands ? Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm ? released movies, giving the company an industry-first $7 billion box office.

Much of Disney's success this year has been due to its live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast ? the highest grossing film worldwide in 2017 with $1.3 billion.

It has been a record year for Marvel, which is celebrating its first hat-trick of $100 million-plus domestic openings ? kicked off in May by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and followed a month later by Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Those two films also passed $800 million worldwide, making the trifecta (including Thor) a first for Marvel, with the parent company expected to account for half of the top 10 highest grossing films of 2017.

Pixar's Coco netted $72.9 million for the five-day Thanksgiving period and is approaching $180 million worldwide, while late 2016 releases Moana and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story bumped up 2017 takings by $561 million.

The Last Jedi ? which hits theatres on December 15 ? is widely expected to have the top domestic opening weekend of the year and cross the $1 billion mark.

The Walt Disney Company ? the world's second-largest media conglomerate behind Comcast ? surprised investors earlier this month by missing Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter revenue and earnings.

But the company is expecting to bounce back as it expands its Star Wars franchise with a new trilogy and live-action TV series and introduces streaming services to rival Netflix and Amazon.