“Inside Out 2” from Disney and Pixar is the most recent member of the billionaire club.
The animated film has grossed $1.014 billion worldwide through Sunday, making it the highest-grossing film of 2024 and the primary film since Warner Bros.' “Barbie” to surpass the $1 billion mark on the worldwide box office.
“On behalf of theater owners across the country and around the world, we want to congratulate Disney's 'Inside Out 2' for reaching $1 billion faster than any other animated film in history,” said Michael O'Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners. “The film's overwhelming worldwide success demonstrates once again that audiences around the world are responding to engaging, entertaining films and want to enjoy them on the big screen.”
The billion-dollar mark is a much-needed success for Disney's animation studio Pixar. The once hugely successful Pixar studio has suffered on the box office within the wake of the pandemic. Much of the problem is due, amongst other things, to Disney's decision to release a handful of animated movies directly on the Disney+ streaming service in the course of the cinema closures and even after cinemas reopened.
As a result, before Inside Out 2, no Disney animated film from Pixar or its Walt Disney Animation Studio had grossed greater than $480 million on the worldwide box office since 2019.
Inside Out 2 also demonstrated how vital family audiences are to box office revenue. This underserved audience made up greater than 70% of the film's U.S. premiere, in response to data from EntTelligence.
While these audiences flocked to Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed greater than $1.36 billion on the box office worldwide, there was little for them to enjoy until the recent releases of Sony's “The Garfield Movie” and Paramount “IF.”
“Inside Out 2” also attracted the coveted goal group of teenagers to the cinemas: 14 percent of cinemagoers were 13 to 17 12 months olds. This younger generation has hardly been found available on the market lately.
As the longer term of cinema, this group is especially vital to the industry. Bringing them back to the large screen has grow to be a top priority for studios and cinema exhibitors.
Next up for families and teenagers is Universal and Illumination’s Despicable Me 4, which is slated to hit theaters over the July 4th holiday weekend.
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