Inside Out 2 is the Highest-Grossing Animated Movie of All Time

Inside Out 2 has passed Frozen 2 to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Inside Out 2 opened in theaters on June 14, 2024 and became an instant smash hit. Breaking the record for the biggest opening weekend of 2024 to date, the Disney Pixar sequel has been dominating box office charts and shattering records. It has remained in the box office top 3 for six consecutive weeks, and as of this writing has grossed $600 million at the domestic box office.

Its worldwide total, though, allowed it to pass a huge milestone as Disney made an official press announcement to confirm that Inside Out 2 has grossed $1.462 billion at the worldwide box office, which puts it above 2019’s Frozen II, which grossed $1.453 billion. Inside Out 2 is the only film of 2024 so far to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, and the film has been performing incredibly well overseas, with it being the highest-grossing film in industry history in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay. Inside Out 2 is now the thirteenth highest-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office, having surpassed Barbie with Top Gun: Maverick in its sights.

Inside Out 2

3.5/5

Release Date

June 14, 2024

Director

Kelsey Mann

Studio

Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures

Tagline

Oh Joy!

Franchise

Pixar

Expand

Inside Out 2 Has a Catch to It’s Achievement

With Inside Out 2 now being crowned the highest-grossing animated film, it is worth noting that there is one big caveat to this record: technically, Inside Out 2 is still the second highest-grossing animated film as 2019’s The Lion King has a worldwide box office total of $1.663 billion. While The Lion King was marketed as a live-action remake, it is a fully CGI animated movie with photorealistic-looking animation. While this maybe not traditional “cartoon-style” animation, it is animation nonetheless. Yet Disney has refused to call it an animated movie and has insisted it is live-action so much that they didn’t even submit it for consideration for Best Animated Movie at the Academy Awards in 2020.

Related

How Disney’s Lion King Prequel Can Fix the Problems with the Live-Action Remake

The 2019 remake of The Lion King received plenty of criticism for its lack of originality, though Barry Jenkins is shaking things up with the sequel.

While Inside Out 2’s title of the highest-grossing animated movie might now be contested by many, it is still possible that the film could surpass The Lion King‘s total box office and make the argument completely irrelevant. The film has been holding incredibly strong over the summer, and unless Deadpool & Wolverine breaks out bigger than expected, Inside Out 2 seems likely to be the highest-grossing movie of the year. Inside Out 2 does have a chance to surpass The Lion King as the film is set to open in its last major international market, Japan, this weekend.

Even if Inside Out 2 does not pass The Lion King, that certainly doesn’t take away from the film’s achievements. It is already the highest-grossing Pixar film worldwide, surpassing beloved films like Toy Story 3, Incredibles 2, and Finding Dory. In fact, the film has taken more than the last six Pixar movie releases combined, due in part to the Covid pandemic, but also a general lack of love for new Pixar characters. With the likes of Frozen 3 and Toy Story 5 now in development, we will see how long Inside Out 2 can maintain its position as the studio’s highest grossing movie ever.