Animation Has Hit an Enormous Milestone at the 2024 Domestic Box Office

2024 has been a year of success for digital animation. At the domestic Box Office, two of the top three films were animated features, with both Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 proving major triumphs across the world. Now, thanks to a late-September/early-October that has seen both The Wild Robot and Transformers One pull their weight in ticket sales, digital animation is about to hit a staggering $1.5 billion at the domestic Box Office. Currently on $1.498 billion, 19 animated features have dazzled and delighted audiences across the country, with the odd re-release such as a $3 million return from Shrek 2‘s 20th anniversary helping the medium to the major milestone.

Top of this list is, unsurprisingly, Inside Out 2 with $652 million, astonishingly almost double the second-place $360 million haul of Despicable Me 4. Kung Fu Panda 4 kicks its way into third with an impressive $193 million, with The Garfield Movie and Migration rounding off the top 5. The aforementioned Transformers One and The Wild Robot continue to climb the list respectively, with the former in seventh place and the latter in sixth. It’s likely, given The Wild Robot‘s dominant streak in domestic theaters, that the DreamWorks project will overtake Migration and enter the top 5 sometime soon, with just $30 million separating them.

On Average, 2024 Has Been Better For Animation Than 2023

If comparing digital animation’s success in 2024 to 2023, it’s easy to first pronounce the latter as the winner. In total, 2023’s cumulative haul domestically for animated features stands atalmost $1.7 billion, roughly $2 billion higher than 2024. However, 2023 had 32 digital animation projects compared to 2024’s 19 so far, and, if finding the average of both of these figures, 2024 has a better Box Office gross per movie than the year prior. What’s more, 2024 still has over two months left, with the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Moana 2 yet to make their likely big splash at the Box Office.

When removing the months of 2023 that 2024 has not yet been privy to, 2023’s total drops by over $200 million without big hauls from the likes of Trolls Band Together and Wish. It is certainly fair to say then that, all aspects considered, 2024 has been a more successful year for digital animation, and one that fans of the medium are unlikely to forget anytime soon.

Digital animation is about to hit $1.5 billion at the domestic Box Office. You can catch the year’s biggest animated hit, Inside Out 2, on Disney+ right now.

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