In 2019, no winner was in the same galaxy as the Walt Disney Co., which had all of the year’s top five films and played a hand in the sixth.
Disney’s Marvel Studios produced the Sony Pictures release “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
Disney banked about $13 billion in worldwide box office in 2019, including a record number of $1 billion releases. Once “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” ($724.8 million through Sunday) inevitably reaches that milestone, it will mark the studio’s seventh such $1 billion movie in 2019. The others were: “Avengers: Endgame” (the highest grossing release ever, not accounting for inflation, with $2.8 billion), “The Lion King,” “Captain Marvel,” “Aladdin,” “Toy Story 4” and “Frozen II.”
It was the third year in a row that the year’s 10 biggest ticket-sellers have all been sequels, remakes and superhero films.
Germany shuttering last nuclear reactors
Germany is shutting down one of its seven remaining nuclear power plants as part of a planned phase-out of atomic energy production by the end of 2022.
Utility company EnBW took the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant off the grid Tuesday. The plant’s license to operate expired at midnight.
Under Germany’s “energy transition” plan, the country aims to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources over the coming decades. The government agreed earlier this year to stop producing electricity from coal-fired plants by 2038 at the latest.
The 1,468 megawatt reactor that’s being shut down began operation in 1984. Neighboring Switzerland shut down a 47-year-old nuclear plant earlier this month.
U.S. consumer confidence declines in December
U.S. consumer confidence slipped ever so slightly in December, as expectations fell about economic growth over the next six months.
The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index edged down to 126.5 from November’s reading of 126.8. Americans felt largely confident about business conditions this month amid the holiday shopping season, yet their confidence wavered somewhat regarding job availability and income growth for the first half of 2020.
The reading of consumer sentiment points to continued economic expansion, but not much of an improvement given the 3.5% unemployment rate that is near historic lows.
“While the economy hasn’t shown signs of further weakening, there is little to suggest that growth, and in particular consumer spending, will gain momentum in early 2020,” said Conference Board economist Lynn Franco said.
Consumers account for roughly 70% of economic activity, so their sentiments about growth can be a key indicator about where the U.S. economy is headed.