Los Angeles: On Tuesday, "Inside Out 2" reached a milestone, surpassing 1.46 billion dollars in global ticket sales and becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time, overtaking Disney's "Frozen II." The film's box office success is expected to grow further, as it has yet to be released in Japan, which contributed nearly 33 million dollars to the 850.5 million dollars global total of "Inside Out" in 2015.
This record-breaking achievement comes amidst a mixed performance for Disney's animated releases, particularly from Pixar, which has struggled at the box office following the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of these difficulties stemmed from Disney's decision to debut several animated features directly on its streaming service, Disney+, during and after theater closures.
Before "Inside Out 2," no Disney animated feature from Pixar or Walt Disney Animation Studios had surpassed 480 million dollars in global box office revenue since 2019. Notably, Disney classifies its 2019 "The Lion King" as a live-action remake, despite the extensive use of computer animation. Adhering to Disney's categorization, box office analysts do not consider it an animated feature. If it were classified as such, it would hold the top spot with over 1.6 billion dollars in global earnings during its theatrical run.