Disney’s Pixar Notches First $1 Billion Film Since Barbie

Walt Disney and Pixar topped the domestic box office for the third straight weekend, as Inside Out 2 became the first 2024 film to cross the $1 billion threshold in ticket sales.

It is also the fastest animated release to ever gross $1 billion—doing so in only 19 days, Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Barron’s. And it’s the biggest box office haul since last summer’s blockbuster Barbie, from Warner Bros. Discovery.

Barbie surpassed the $1 billion mark 19 days after its June 19, 2023, global release date, and 17 days after its June 21, 2023, domestic release date, Dergarabedian said.

Inside Out 2 hauled in another $57.4 million this weekend and an estimated $469.3 million cumulatively in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday, according to Comscore.

The PG-rated film, the sequel to the 2015 animated hit that won the 2016 Oscar for Best Animated Film, grossed another $545.5 million internationally, also topping the global box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo.

Inside Out 2 becomes only the 11th animated release to gross $1 billion. Eight of those 11 films are Walt Disney/Pixar titles.

“The global sprint to $1 billion that [Inside Out 2] has enjoyed is most impressive, and despite an ever-growing number of films that have achieved this lofty goal, it’s an amazing feat and puts the film in the pantheon of top grossing animated films of all time,” Dergarabedian told Barron’s.

Inside Out 2 outshined other films that opened this weekend, including Paramount’s A Quiet Place: Day One, a drama horror thriller starring Lupita Nyong’o, Djimon Hounsou, Alex Wolff, and Joseph Quinn, which posted $53 million this weekend for the second slot domestically. The PG-rated film is a spinoff prequel to the 2018 and 2020 films of the same name.

Warner Bros.’ Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1, Kevin Costner’s Civil War-era Western epic, drew a disappointing $11 million domestically during its opening weekend. Although Horizon opened in 3,334 theaters, nearly as many as Inside Out 2’s 4,440 theaters, and Quiet Place’s 3,708, Horizon sold an average of $3,299 in tickets per theater, compared with Inside Out’s $12,928 per theater, and A Quiet Place’s $14,293, according to Comscore.

Sony Columbia Pictures’ Bad Boys: Ride or Die, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, came in fourth place with an estimated $10.3 million in domestic box office sales through Sunday.

Prathyangira Cinemas’ Kalki 2898 AD opened in fifth domestically, with nearly $11 million through Sunday. It earned another $55.1 million internationally to become the third highest globally after Inside Out 2 and A Quiet Place.

Overall, the domestic box office sales totaled $152.7 million this weekend and $3.61 billion so far this year through Sunday, but remains 19% lower than in 2023, Dergarabedian said.

IMAX sold $12.5 million globally this weekend, including $9.3 million worldwide for A Quiet Place and $1.8 million for Kalki 2898 AD, Comscore said.

Universal Pictures’ and Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 opens domestically on Wednesday. The PG-rated sequel has already sold more than $25.3 million internationally since opening in New Zealand on June 20, according to BoxOfficeMojo.

Write to Janet H. Cho at [email protected]