'Inside Out 2' has officially become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It has overtaken 'Frozen II', which has held the record since 2019.
ADVERTISEMENTThe sequel to Pixar’s critically and commercially successful 2015 film, Inside Out 2 continues the story of young girl Riley as she enters high school and how that impacts the anthropomorphised versions of her emotions, played by a host of star actors including Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, and Ayo Edebiri.
In the six weeks since its release, Inside Out 2 has taken $1.46 billion (€1.35 billion), surpassing the $1.45 billion (€1.34 billion) Frozen II made at the box office. It also puts the total box office gross of the animated sequel at a shade higher than the end-of-year figure for 2023’s most successful film Barbie.
Technically, Inside Out 2 is only the second highest-grossing animated film of all time due to The Lion King remake that Disney also produced in 2019. However, despite the entirety of the film being computer animated, it was categorised by Disney as one of its “live action” films. Nonetheless, its worldwide gross of $1.66 billion (€1.53 billion) is likely to be overtaken as the pace of Inside Out 2’s popularity continues to impress.
It is both the fastest animated film to cross the $1 billion mark, having done so in 19 days, and is the 13th biggest selling film of all time.
In a comparatively financially unsuccessful year for big Hollywood franchises, Inside Out 2 is a clear outlier. It is the only film to clear the $1 billion mark with the second-highest selling film Dune: Part Two making $712 million (€657 million) globally.
For the past decade, Hollywood figures have been propped up by the financial success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But with Marvel only just now releasing its only film of the year, Deadpool & Wolverine, it has fallen on fellow Disney property Pixar to pick up the slack.
Pixar will be glad to have this success. Known for their obsessive approach to story craft and dedicated in-house animation department, Pixar had its wings clipped recently after the pandemic interrupted their stream of hits. Ever since Soul was released directly to Disney+, Pixar hasn’t been able to convert their films into the major box office success of yore.
In March, this resulted in Pixar laying off 14% of its workforce. Reflecting on their financial woes, Pete Docter, the chief creative officer for the company told Bloomberg that, “the studio’s movies should be less a pursuit of any director’s catharsis and instead speak to a commonality of experience”.
The approach clearly works. Inside Out 2 is a remarkably creative film, but ultimately rides on the coattails of the creativity behind the original. Likewise, looking through the top 10 highest-grossing animated films of all times, only Frozen is an original story not based on prior IP (not including classic fairy tales).
The top 10 highest-grossing animated films are: The Lion King (2019); Inside Out 2; Frozen II; The Super Marios Bros. Movie; Frozen; Incredibles 2; Minions; Toy Story 4; Toy Story 3; and Despicable Me 3.
