The Walt Disney Company reported its FY26 first quarter results on Monday with CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston focusing on the company’s recent accomplishments.
“We are pleased with our start to fiscal 2026, and our achievements reflect the tremendous progress we have made,” Iger and Johnston said in an executive commentary on Monday.
There were several key achievements, according to Iger and Johnston, including Disney’s studios releasing two films (Zootopia 2 in November and Avatar: Fire and Ash in December) that each surpassed $1 billion at the global box office. The company’s streaming services were also a highlight, underscoring the strength of Disney’s content and continued improvements to the user experience. In addition, ESPN demonstrated its leadership as the preeminent destination for sports with strong ratings in the quarter, and Disney’s Experiences segment has expansion projects underway at every one of the company’s theme parks.
“These achievements reflect the progress we’ve made over the past three years to fortify the company, position our businesses for future growth over the long-term, and set Disney on a path for continued success,” the two said.
Film & Television
Disney’s film studios generated more than $6.5 billion at the global box office in calendar year 2025, making this its third biggest year ever and its ninth year as No. 1 at the global box office in the last 10 years, Iger and Johnston noted.
“To date, 37 billion-dollar films have come from our studios out of the 60 films that have hit this mark industrywide, and we have four times as many as any other studio,” Iger and Johnston said.
Iger and Johnston pointed out that the “box office success of our branded IP also generates value across our interconnected businesses, with hits like Zootopia 2 lifting viewership of related titles on Disney+ and fueling global interest in our parks and consumer products.”
“Zootopia 2 is the highest grossing Hollywood film of all time in China, earning more than $630 million at the box office so far,” they said. “This franchise is also an important driver of attendance at Shanghai Disneyland with our Zootopia-themed land – one of the most popular areas of the park.”
Disney’s creative successes extend beyond the big screen, however. Seven of the top ten most-watched shows of 2025 streamed on Disney+ or Hulu, as reported by Nielsen[1], and Bluey was the most-streamed show in the U.S. for the second year in a row, with 45 billion minutes watched[2]. ABC also had the top six shows for Adults 18-49 in calendar year 2025, including High Potential, Abbott Elementary, and Dancing with the Stars.
Streaming
“With audience and critical favorites across film and television, combined with our leading portfolio of sports offerings and award-winning news programming, we offer consumers a powerful streaming proposition,” Iger and Johnston said.
The two went on to say that the company is focused on “the international growth opportunity for our streaming services and are seeing encouraging results from our investment in local content.”
Iger and Johnston also noted that Disney is rolling out numerous product enhancements to elevate the user experience on Disney+.
“Ongoing experimentation remains central to how we innovate, and we expect new ad tech capabilities such as our AI-powered planning tool and video generator to improve advertiser engagement,” they said. “We’re also layering in additional ways to engage audiences by developing new vertical and shortform experiences, and we plan to introduce a curated slate of Sora-generated content on Disney+ following our recently announced licensing agreement with OpenAI.”
They continued, “together, these efforts are shaping a more personalized streaming experience and positioning us to deliver greater value to consumers.”
Sports
As for Sports, ESPN remains the industry leader, offering fans a compelling portfolio of live sports, studio shows, and original content, and multiple ways for them to watch. ESPN led the industry by capturing more than 30% of all sports viewership across networks, including ESPN on ABC, and marquee events delivered strong ratings throughout the first quarter.
Highlights from the quarter include ESPN Networks delivered their most-watched college football regular season since 2011 and ABC achieved its best college football season since 2006, with the College Football National Championship reaching 30.1 million viewers and becoming the second most-viewed cable event ever. In addition, Monday Night Football delivered its second-highest viewership in 20 years, with the Disney’s NFL Divisional game drawing 38 million viewers – the most-watched event in company history.
“We continue to strengthen our rights portfolio while maintaining a disciplined approach,” Iger and Johnston said. “Our recently announced three-year MLB agreement exemplifies this strategy, expanding our rights footprint and making ESPN the exclusive distributor of MLB.TV. And on January 31, we closed our transaction with the NFL to acquire NFL Network and other media assets, including the linear rights to the popular NFL RedZone channel, further bolstering ESPN’s offering with a rich content experience for football fans.”
The two added, “the launch of ESPN Unlimited marked an important step in our direct-to-consumer evolution, and while still early days, we are pleased with the adoption and engagement with new app features. We are encouraged by ESPN app authentication from pay-TV subscribers, the pace of new signups, and the engagement patterns that have followed.”
Experiences
Discussing Disney’s Experiences segment, Iger and Johnson noted “our efforts to turbocharge this segment are well underway, and we are excited about continued progress on a robust pipeline of projects to support long-term growth.”
The two said next month Disney will welcome guests to the new World of Frozen at the completely reimagined Disney Adventure World at Disneyland Paris.
“This milestone marks the beginning of a bold new era for Disneyland Paris, nearly doubling the size of the second park and showcasing Disney’s unique ability to bring our stories to life in the physical world,” they said. “Additionally, we are continuously expanding storytelling in our parks, with new experiences featuring Bluey, activations planned around the release of Toy Story 5, and a new mission featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu inside Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run coming soon.”
As for Disney Cruise Line, Disney recently launched the Disney Destiny, which has received rave reviews from guests since its maiden voyage on November 20.
In addition, the Disney Adventure, the company’s first ship homeported in Asia, is on its way to Singapore for its maiden voyage on March 10, bringing immersive Disney storytelling to more people globally than ever before.
This will bring Disney’s fleet to a total of eight cruise ships, with another five scheduled for launch beyond fiscal 2026, according to Iger and Johnston.
Wrap Up
Iger and Johnston concluded their executive commentary by saying that this quarter underscores Disney’s disciplined execution and strong strategic investments.
“Overall, this quarter reflects our focused execution and investment across each of our strategic priorities and stands on the solid foundation we’ve built over the past three years, providing us with a path for long-term growth,” the two said.
[1] https://www.nielsen.com/data-center/top-streaming-shows-artey-awards/
The information above should be read together with Disney’s Q1 FY 26 Earnings Report, Form 10-Q, prepared earnings remarks (executive commentary), and earnings call (all available here), which discuss additional information, including additional challenges and risks the company’s businesses face and additional information about Q1 performance.
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