The 15 highest-grossing animated movies of all time
July 25, 20240
“Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
Universal
Worldwide gross: $940,203,765
Chronicling the antics of a young Gru turned out to be box office gold. Minions: The Rise of Gru” earned over $100 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, even though audiences were still hesitant to return to movie theaters following the pandemic.
14. “Finding Nemo” (2003)
Lucy (Kristen Wiig) and Gru (Steve Carell) first meet in “Despicable Me 2.”
Universal Pictures
Worldwide gross: $970,766,005
That’s right — you’ll see a lot of movies involving Minions on this list. The beloved “Despicable Me” franchise from Illumination has only grown in popularity over the decades.
12. “The Lion King” (1994)
“Zootopia.”
Disney
Worldwide gross: $1,025,521,689
Here marks our first billion-dollar earner.
Chronicling Judy Hopps’ adventures in “Zootopia” was a big lift for Walt Disney Animation, which had been searching for another megahit after “Frozen.”
10. “Finding Dory” (2016)
“Despicable Me 3.”
Universal
Worldwide gross: $1,034,800,131
Introducing Gru’s brother in the third movie gave the “Despicable Me” franchise its first billion-dollar earner. It wouldn’t be the last.
8. “Toy Story 3” (2010)
“Toy Story 4”
Disney/Pixar
Worldwide gross: $1,073,841,394
Almost a decade after “Toy Story 3” came the fourth installment. Though it wasn’t as memorable as the previous release, that clearly didn’t matter at the box office.
6. “Minions” (2015)
“Incredibles 2.”
Disney/Pixar
Worldwide gross: $1,243,225,667
Fourteen years after Pixar released the hit original, “Incredibles 2” came to theaters and delivered a story that in some ways surpassed the Oscar-winning first title.
A main reason for that is its deeper examination of the superhero family (“Why did they change math?!?”), which touches on female empowerment and the rigors of caring for a growing child… that has zany powers.
4. “Frozen” (2013)
Mario and Luigi in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
Universal
Worldwide gross: $1,361,992,475
For decades, Illumination was known mostly as the studio that released the “Despicable Me” movies and created the Minions characters. But taking the Super Mario Bros. IP and turning it into a box office smash has made it an animation house that rivals Pixar.
2. “Frozen II” (2019)
Joy has some new feelings to work with in “Inside Out 2.”
Disney/Pixar
Worldwide gross: $1,462,000,000
After years of being a box office behemoth, Pixar hit a snag during the pandemic. Relegating titles like “Luca” and “Turning Red” to direct-to-streaming led to frustration and low morale within the company.
But those down times are over.
“Inside Out 2” hit the $1 billion global mark in 19 days, the fastest ever for an animated movie. It’s also the only movie released in 2024 so far that has crossed the $1 billion mark.
