The magical year of animation

An animated hit about a robot that plays a goose’s mother guarantees a great year for the medium.

No fan should miss that animated film’s happy moment. No longer is it just about the quality of hits like Spider-Man: Across the Multiverse, Ninja Turtles: Mutant Chaos, The Boy and the Heron, and Nimona. The box office has given up to animated film’s many styles and subgenres. The latest success is a film that shows that the world is full of variants and new ideas, and that much can be invented.

Historical event. This week, five animated films made the top 10 at the North American box office for the first time. They are:

The offer is very diverse. ‘Nightmare…’ is a modern classic reissue. ‘My Hero Academia’ and ‘Transformers One’ are two new installments of successful franchises, but they are very different: traditional anime and CGI for the whole family. Even with its huge box office, ‘Piece by Piece’ is the most unusual case: a LEGO biopic of Pharrell Williams. Last but not least, Universal and DreamWorks’ new family film ‘Savage Robot’ features intriguing formal innovations.

An exceptional year. Let’s remember that ‘Inside Out 2’ broke records this summer. It grossed $1.693 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing animated film, the highest-grossing of 2024 (surpassing ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’), and the eighth-highest in history. A blow to the animated film industry from Pixar/Disney, but one that proves the House of the Mouse’s setbacks a few years ago were temporary.

Not from Pixar. Despite the overwhelming end of the year for animated films, there are still releases that promise big box office numbers. The anniversary re-release of ‘Coraline’, ‘Moana 2’, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, and the animated adaptation of the children’s best-seller ‘Policeman’ will undoubtedly be Christmas blockbusters. Animation is definitely having a good time.

Miracle of ‘Robot Savage’ Despite its vibrant aesthetics and classic story, ‘Robot Savage’ has topped the US box office, surpassing ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ and only another well-deserved surprise hit, ‘Terrifier 3’. It grossed 2 million euros in Spain, making it the weekend’s highest-grossing film.

Dreamworks wins. Dreamworks Animation is on a roll with this story about a robot shipwrecked on an uninhabited island who must adapt to the harsh environment and become the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose. They had global hits with ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ last spring and ‘Trolls 3: All Together’ last year. This company, which has made blockbusters like ‘The Bad Guys’ and the ‘Shrek’ spin-off of ‘Puss in Boots’, is a fascinating competitor to Pixar. Another thing. In 2025, ‘Shrek’ arrives. Magical times for animation.

It nearly doubled forecasts. This is how well ‘Inside Out 2’ did, which was expected to gross $80–90 million. It grossed $155 million in its first weekend, surpassing ‘Dune: Part 2’ (82.5 million) and ‘Godzilla and Kong’ (80 million). Box office boon or isolated event?Dizzying numbers. Its 155 million makes it 2024’s biggest hit and compares to ‘Barbie’, which grossed 162 million close to these dates last year. Those 155 million allow it to compete with Warner’s success and make ‘Inside Out 2’ the first film since that one to exceed 100 million in its first weekend.

Beyond the US, more. The success of ‘Inside Out 2’ continues. Pixar’s film had 295 million international sales after adding 140 million. Similar numbers to ‘Barbie’, which was ahead by $335 million. ‘Inside Out 2’ became the best animated premiere ever, surpassing ‘Frozen 2’ and its 135 million. Only ‘Avengers: Endgame’ had a better Latin American premiere.

Cinema relief. Disney and Pixar are thrilled, but the theatres must be relieved after a streak of semi-unexpected box office failures that predicted a summer of empty theatres (despite the fourth part of ‘Bad Boys’ lifting spirits a couple of weeks ago). ‘Furiosa’, ‘Garfield’, and ‘The Specialist’ were among the first-half disappointments, along with ‘Madame Web’ and ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’. Many factors have been considered, including the ongoing attendance drop between 2019 and 2022, high ticket prices, formula exhaustion, streaming competition, and last year’s strikes.

A breath of fresh air for Disney. As mentioned in our ‘Inside Out 2’ forecasts, Disney was betting big on Pixar’s latest film. Despite the unexpected success of ‘Elementary’, the company is in a year-long impasse where it will only release three major films in theatres: this one, ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ as Marvel’s only standard-bearer, and ‘Moana 2’ in November as Disney animation. The three are expected to be box office hits, which would clean up the image and accounts of a company that has almost paralysed Marvel and Star Wars to tighten its belt and start a “less quantity, more quality” phase.

The magical year of animation

An animated hit about a robot that plays a goose’s mother guarantees a great year for the medium.

By nr39r

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