The studio announced on Friday [23] that it had crossed the threshold in record time.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International has achieved the feat.

Studio executives announced that WDSMPI is on track for its biggest ever year with the majority roll-out of Planes to come, as well as forthcoming releases of Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen.

Marvel’s Iron Man 3 has been the key driver of the year, amassing $805.7m.

Other high performers for the year-to-date include Pixar’s Monsters University on $403m and counting – it opens this weekend in China and Italy – while Oz The Great And Powerful finished on $258.4m.

The much maligned The Lone Ranger stands at $135.7m.