Inside Out 2’s box office has reached another new milestone as it climbs higher among thehighest-grossing movies ever, and passing 2019’sThe Lion Kingbrings a controversial animated movie debate to an end at last. Pixar’s 2024 animated movie has surpassed every box office projection on its way to making over $1.6 billion worldwide. This has made it responsible for knockingThe Avengersout of the top 10 of all time. While beating The Avengers is massive, the movie’s ability tosurpass Disney’sThe Lion Kingremake from 2019 now is its latest accomplishment.
Becoming the ninth-biggest movie at the box office in history is a moment to further celebrate the success of the family-friendly animated film from Pixar, the powerhouse studio whose future looked more uncertain than ever before just a few years before.Inside Out 2’s box office has broken recordsfrom the beginning and has continued to be a gigantic hit for the studio since then. Disney even declared it the highest-grossing animated movie ever once it beatFrozen II. That was not universally considered correct thanks to 2019’sThe Lion King, butInside Out 2is now on top for good.
How Inside Out 2 Became The Highest Grossing Animated Movie Of All-Time
Inside Out 2 has officially surpassed Frozen II as the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, and this is how the Disney sequel did it.
2019’s The Lion King Was Arguably Still The Highest-Grossing Animated Movie
The “Live-Action” Status Was Questioned
Inside Out 2beatingThe Lion King’s live-action remake officiallyends the debate about the true record holder for the highest-grossing animated feature. Disney’s decision to remake the original animated movie with director Jon Favreau always had its status as a “live-action” or “animated” movie questioned in the lead-up to its release and in the years after. This stemmed from the impossibility of using real lions, hyenas, elephants, and more native African wildlife to do this story in the same live-action remake mold of Disney’s prior venture.
The movie was made entirely through CG, with Favreau even utilizing VR to create an entire set where they could shift camera locations, lighting, and more. The idea was to make the movie look as realistic as possible. But, unlike the physical human lead and limited sets utilized by Favreau inThe Jungle Book, 2019’sThe Lion Kinghad no live-action elements that were used throughout the production. However, it is confirmed thatthere is one real live-action shot inThe Lion King, as Jon Favreau confirmed the movie’s opening sunrise was an accurate Africa sunrise.
But one live-action shot does not single-handily make 2019’sThe Lion Kinga live-action movie. Plenty of animated movies have included brief live-action elements before, just as several live-action movies have used animation briefly at times. Sincethe movie required a team of CG animatorsto create the characters, locations, and more, it essentially was made like an animated movie, even as it attempted to have its live-action label.
The debate about its classification even extended to the awards circuit.The Golden Globes gave it a nomination in its Best Animated Movie category, and several other awards groups categorized it as an animated movie in other nominations. But, the Academy Awards gaveThe Lion Kingan Oscar nomination for Best VFX. That gave it some weight as a live-action movie, as only two traditional animated movies have ever been nominated in that category in 95 years. But, most factors would still point to it being more of an animated movie than a live-action movie.
Disney Never Considered 2019’s The Lion King As An Animated Movie
And Neither Did Jon Favreau
Inside Out 2’s box office performance is just another reminder that Disney never consideredThe Lion Kingto be an animated movie. The studioquickly celebratedInside Out 2beatingFrozen IIat the box office and becoming the highest-grossing animated movie ever. That may have drummed up more references toThe Lion Kingstill qualifying as the record-holder, but Disney has never acted as if the 2019 film was an animated movie.Frozen II’s record high was congratulated after surpassingFrozen, even thoughThe Lion Kingcame out months earlier and still made more.
Looking beyond Disney repeatedly not consideringThe Lion Kingamong the highest-grossing animated movies, how those associated with the film talked about it showed the preference to distance it from the animated or live-action label. Walt Disney Studios president of production Sean Bailey toldTHRthat"Historical definitions don’t work"when discussingThe Lion King. He went on to say,“It uses some techniques that would traditionally be called animation, and other techniques that would traditionally be called live action"beforenoting that it’s an"evolution"of technologyFavreau used inThe Lion King.
Even Jon Favreau carefully discussed whether the movie should be considered animated or live-action. He told theAcademy of Animated Artyears ago,“It depends what standard you’re using.“Favreau noted the lack of real animals, cameras, or performances being used and said,“Everything is coming through the hands of artists.“He also stated thatthe live-action and animated labels did not entirely fithis movie, suggesting that it is entirely different.
Inside Out 2 Officially Ends Any Debate About The Highest-Grossing Animated Movie
The Lion King Has Been Defeated
After six years of questioning whetherThe Lion Kingshould be considered to be the highest-grossing animated movie,Inside Out 2has thankfully brought the debate to an end.Pixar’s sequel now has made $1.667 billionat the box office, just ahead ofThe Lion King’s $1.662 billion. The $5 million difference is relatively small in the grand scheme of the two films' massive performances, but it is still enough to put any further debates to rest.Inside Out 2is unquestionably the highest-grossing animated movie now.
SinceThe Lion Kingnever even officially held claim to the title, the movie’s overall standing in the record books is not that impacted, outside of sliding to ninth place all time. It is still Disney’s highest-grossing remake of an animated movie. Once the name of a completely CG movie with a hyper-realistic animation style likeThe Lion Kingis made official, it will be the record-holder in that subcategory of movies.
$154.2 million
$651.2 million
$1.016 billion
$1.667 billion
$191.7 million
$543.6 million
$1.118 billion
$1.662 billion
Now thatInside Out 2hasofficially passedThe Lion King, its path to achieving it is quite impressive. 2019’sThe Lion Kinghad an enormous opening weekend, breaking records for Disney’s reimaginings of animated classics, the month of July, and for Favreau. Despite the gargantuan haul, it only had a 2.8 multiplier domestically after mixed critical reviews. The boost came internationally, with China ($120 million), the UK ($99 million), France ($80 million), Brazil ($69 million), and Japan ($62 million) finishing as the five biggest performers.
Inside Out 2is well behindThe Lion Kingin some of the aforementioned international territories, but it still made over $1 billion collectively, including a great $100 million performance in Mexico.The real strength of the Pixar sequel is that it has had incredible legsat the domestic box office. It’s opening weekend was lower thanThe Lion King’s, but it has a 4.2 multiplier and has made over $100 million extra stateside as a result.Inside Out 2’s box office will keep increasing to put more distance between it andThe Lion King.
