It is no secret that animated movies are responsible for some of the most popular franchises in all of Hollywood. Despite the fact that the genre typically caters to a younger audience, studios have found a way to release animated projects that please moviegoers of all ages, making these films as competitive as live-action blockbusters.
Over the years, studios such as Disney, Universal, and Fox have largely dominated the genre. However, Warner and Sony have recently grown their ambitions in animation, and newcomers such as Netflix have established plans for releasing original animated films as well.
Updated on June 26th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Animated movies continue to be a favorite genre for any aged viewer even though they typically target a younger audience they're enjoyable for older viewers as well. Because of the wide range of appeal for animated movies they tend to be some of the highest-grossing movies especially when there are franchises that continue to get popular over the years like Toy Story or The Incredibles or Finding Nemo. Some, like Shrek 2, have seen the heights of their success dwindle over time when compared to more recent animated movies, while others have redefined what animated movies can earn like Frozen and its sequel that are among the best animated movies of all time.
15 THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (2016) - $875 Million
● Available on Fubo TV
The Secret Life of Pets is an animated movie that follows exactly what the title suggests. The movie follows spoiled dog Max who has to contend with a new overzealous and large dog his owner adopts. There are several animal characters from the disinterested cat Chloe to the intense bunny Snowball.
The Secret Life of Pets is one of the lower highest-grossing animated movies at $875 million and its sequel didn't perform as well, which is an odd occurrence that a franchise makes less than its previous movies.
14 ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (2009) - $886 Million
● Available on Disney+
The third movie in the Ice Age franchise follows Sid, Diego, and Manny on a new adventure. Diego and Manny, along with a group of new friends, have to try to rescue Sid after he steals dinosaur eggs. The group meets various animals they had never seen before, including dinosaurs.
The movie grossed over $880 million, beating out the other movies in the franchise and making it one of the highest-grossing animated movies thanks in part to its then-new and exciting 3D element that interested audiences in the wake of James Cameron's blockbuster from the same year, Avatar.
13 SHREK 2 (2004) - $928 Million
● Available on Hulu
Shrek 2 continued Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey's story as they travel to Fiona's kingdom and meet her king and queen parents. Fiona's parents have only heard that she's married and assumed she married a human making her a human for the rest of her life, not an ogre.
Shrek 2 is a fun sequel that continues to introduce various fairy tales into its story and engage both children and adults in its story. The sequel nearly doubled the first movie's earnings as it garnered over $900 million.
12 FINDING NEMO (2003) - $940 Million
● Available on Disney+
From the very beginning, there was no doubt that Pixar could release animated movies that were both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. However, it wasn’t really until 2003’s Finding Nemo that the studio realized that it could actually make this much money.
Starring Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres as the likable lead characters, Disney-Pixar’s Finding Nemo grossed a worldwide $940 million, which was the highest figure an animated film had ever made up until that point. Of course, that was only the beginning for Pixar, which would go on to have billion-dollar movies in the future.
11 DESPICABLE ME 2 (2013) - $970 Million
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
When measuring the success that Universal has had with its Illumination studio, one has to look no further than the Despicable Me franchise. The second installment in the series, Despicable Me 2, grossed $970 million around the world, far surpassing the original movie's earnings.
Starring Steve Carell as Gru, Despicable Me 2 established this series of films as a bonafide Hollywood hit that is as important to Universal as the Jurassic Park and Fast and Furious franchises.
10 ZOOTOPIA (2016) - $1.024 Billion
● Available on Disney+
We have now entered the billion-dollar club. After Walt Disney Animation Studios regained its confidence in the 2010s, the path was cleared for Zootopia, which won all of the major awards an animated movie could possibly get (the Oscar, the Golden Globe, the Annie, and the Critics’ Choice) and went on to gross $1.024 billion around the world at the box office.
Considering that two movies that are part of the highest-grossing animated movies – The Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia – were released in 2016, it's clear that that was quite the competitive year for animated features.
9 FINDING DORY (2016) - $1.028 Billion
● Available on Disney+
Pixar’s Finding Dory, the sequel to the universally beloved Finding Nemo, was also released in 2016 and is also one of the highest-grossing animated films ever. On opening weekend alone, Finding Dory made $135 million. Then, over time, the movie grossed $1.028 billion at the box office, surpassing the original installment by quite a lot.
Despite the fact that Pixar has released several incredibly successful animated movies over the years, Finding Dory is only one of three movies from the studio to have grossed over one billion dollars. Furthermore, under the general Disney umbrella, there are only five animated movies in the billion-dollar club.
8 DESPICABLE ME 3 (2017) - $1.034 Billion
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
With 2017’s Despicable Me 3, Illumination proved that this franchise is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down, even after three movies and a spin-off.
Directed by Pierre Coffin (who was at the helm of all three Despicable Me installments) and Kyle Balda, Despicable Me 3 went on to gross $1.034 billion around the world, making it one of the biggest box office hits of 2017.
7 TOY STORY 3 (2010) - $1.067 Billion
● Available on Disney+
Pixar’s first-ever animated feature was 1995’s Toy Story, and that franchise seemed to reach its closing chapter with the release of 2010’s Toy Story 3. However, with the massive success of the third installment – which became, according to Box Office Mojo, the first animated movie in history to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office – it came as no surprise that Disney and Pixar decided to greenlight Toy Story 4 for 2019.
Overall, Toy Story 3 grossed a worldwide $1.067 billion at the box office, far surpassing any of the other Pixar films that had been released at that point in time. Consequently, the movie indicated to Hollywood studios that animated features could reach numbers that were comparable to big live-action blockbusters such as superhero and sci-fi franchises.
6 TOY STORY 4 (2019) - $1.073 Billion
● Available on Disney+
Toy Story 4 continues the story of the toys everyone loves including Woody and Buzz Lightyear as they go on a new adventure. After Andy left for college he gave his beloved toys to Bonnie and the toys join her on a road trip.
Toy Story 4 is yet again another movie in the Toy Story franchise that broke records when it was released. The movie ended up grossing $1.073 billion making it the highest-grossing Toy Story movie as the franchise keeps getting more and more popular.
5 THE LION KING (1994) - $1.083 Billion
● Available on Disney+
The highest-grossing animated movie of the 20th century is Disney’s The Lion King. When adjusted for inflation, this movie’s global gross at the box office comes up to almost $1.083 billion, making it the only 2D animated feature within the highest-grossing animated movies.
Released in 1994 (and re-released in 2002 and 2011), The Lion King got its very own live-action adaptation in 2019, starring Donald Glover, Beyoncé, Seth Rogen, and James Earl Jones.
4 MINIONS (2015) - $1.16 Billion
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
It may be ironic that Minions, a Despicable Me spin-off, would perform at the box office at a higher level than the movies that originated it. And yet, that is absolutely the case.
Illumination’s Minions had an impressive opening weekend and accumulated a global $1.16 billion at the box office throughout the years. Even when counting every movie in history – animated or otherwise – Minions still makes it to the Top 20 list of highest-grossing films ever, just behind Marvel’s Iron Man 3. Of course, Illumination is already working on a sequel, which is titled Minions: The Rise of Gru and is slated for a 2022 release.
3 INCREDIBLES 2 (2018) - $1.24 Billion
● Available on Disney+
Pixar’s Incredibles 2 was released 14 years after its first installment, 2004’s The Incredible, which came during a time when Disney still did not own Marvel (or even Pixar, for that matter). But little did anyone expect that the second installment would do so well at the box office, managing to open to an astounding $182 million weekend and ending up accumulating a gross of $1.24 billion around the world over time.
As it stands, Incredibles 2 is the highest-grossing animated feature from Pixar ever, beating out even the more obvious juggernauts such as Toy Story 3 and Finding Dory.
2 FROZEN (2013) - $1.28 Billion
● Available on Disney+
There were quite a few awkward years for Walt Disney Animation Studios as it saw Pixar (a Disney subsidiary) go on to release movies with critical acclaim and universal appeal while failing to reach any kind of major success. However, all of that changed with Frozen, when the studio finally ‘let it go.’
Starring Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Jonathan Groff, Frozen is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, having accumulated a worldwide gross of $1.28 billion at the box office. Overall, Frozen is the 14th highest-grossing movie of all time, animated or otherwise.
1 FROZEN II (2019) - $1.45 Billion
● Available on Disney+
This sequel to the mega-popular Frozen continues the story of the two princesses Anna and Elsa. While Elsa is trying to adapt to her controlling her new powers of ice and snow, she's having a difficult time and feels out of place. Anna tries to help, but Elsa finds that she needs to follow a voice calling out to her on her own.
The animated sequel about Elsa going on a journey of self-discovery grossed $1.45 billion making it currently the highest-grossing animated movie of all time.
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