With six Marvel Studios movies already slotted through 2015 and five Pixar movies over that same period, the addition of three more "Star Wars" films beginning in 2015 makes Disney arguably the most powerful theatrical distributor in Hollywood. Alan Horn has only been chairman of Walt Disney studios for just five months, but the success of "The Avengers" and the acquisition of Lucasfilm will allow him to duplicate the successful tentpole strategy that made Warner Bros. (his former employer) the no. 1 studio for almost a decade. And once Horn is able to get Disney live action gets ramped up, it could be a even longer before anyone can challenge Disney atop the movie business.

- Gregory Ellwood