Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has arrived on Disney+. But before its streaming debut, it made a massive splash at the box office.
As impressive as Deadpool & Wolverine’s box office run was, Inside Out 2 managed to outgross it and become the biggest movie of the year. Although it was initially projected to underperform, Inside Out 2 quickly emerged as a bona fide blockbuster. A perfect storm of families looking for family-friendly entertainment and young adults who grew up with the original made Inside Out 2 the top-grossing animated movie of all time. During its theatrical run, it broke all kinds of box office records, and those records got more and more impressive as it raked in more and more money.
Inside Out 2's Total Box Office
Inside Out 2 Has Become The Highest-Grossing Movie Of 2024
Since its theatrical release on June 14, 2024, Inside Out 2 has grossed $652,882,941 at the domestic box office and $1,034,389,122 in international markets for a worldwide total of $1,687,272,063 (via Box Office Mojo). This has made it the highest-grossing movie of 2024 by a margin of more than $300 million, with a different Disney release – Deadpool & Wolverine – taking second place. Being a PG-rated movie that appeals to audiences of all ages gave Inside Out 2 a major advantage over Deadpool & Wolverine, whose R rating prevented a lot of younger viewers from getting to see it in theaters.
Budget |
Domestic Opening |
International Opening |
Worldwide Opening |
Domestic Total |
International Total |
Worldwide Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$200 million |
$154.2 million |
$140 million |
$294.2 million |
$652.9 million |
$1.034 billion |
$1.687 billion |
The domestic gross makes up 38.7% of Inside Out 2’s total worldwide haul, while the international gross makes up the remaining 61.3%. This is a healthier domestic-to-international ratio than domestic-heavy 2024 releases like Twisters and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which have been much more popular among American viewers than audiences overseas, suggesting Inside Out 2 has more global appeal. Whereas Twisters’ tornadoes and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s small-town suburban horror tackle uniquely American subjects, Inside Out 2 deals with the universal topic of human emotion. Not everyone can relate to a tornado attack, but everyone can relate to teenage angst.
Inside Out 2's Opening Weekend Box Office
Inside Out 2 Had The Biggest Opening Weekend In Pixar's History
In its opening weekend, Inside Out 2 grossed $154.2 million at the domestic box office and an estimated $140 million from 38 international markets. Combined, this made for a worldwide total of $294.2 million, making it the biggest opening weekend in Pixar’s history. Inside Out 2’s initial box office projections were much, much lower. Industry experts expected the sequel to gross around $80–90 million in its domestic box office debut. This still would’ve made it Pixar’s best opening in five years, but anything below $100 million would’ve been considered a disappointment for such a high-profile sequel.
Inside Out 2 had the fourth-best opening for a PG-rated movie after The Lion King, Incredibles 2, and Beauty and the Beast.
These experts were basing their low expectations on various factors. Pixar’s audience had gotten accustomed to waiting for a Disney+ release after the straight-to-streaming releases of Soul, Luca, and Turning Red. Pixar’s last two theatrical releases – 2022’s Lightyear, which had ties to Pixar’s most popular franchise, and 2023’s Elemental – both underperformed at the box office. On top of that, a number of 2024 releases flopped at the box office, like Argylle, Madame Web, and Horizon: An American Saga. Based on all that evidence, it seemed unlikely that Inside Out 2 would break out the way it did.
10 Reasons Inside Out 2 Just Destroyed The Box Office: Explaining Its Record-Breaking $295M Opening
Inside Out 2 has enjoyed a record-shattering $295 million opening at the box office. But why has the Pixar sequel been so ludicrously successful?
After grossing $63.6 million on its first day, including $13 million from Thursday night previews, Inside Out 2’s box office projections were raised to predict a $140–150 million bow for the weekend. The sequel ended up earning even more than that with its $154.2 million domestic total. It sured Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire for the biggest opening of 2024 and became the first movie of the year to open to more than $100 million. It was Pixar’s second-biggest domestic opening (behind Incredibles 2) and Pixar’s biggest ever opening at the worldwide box office.
How Inside Out 2's Box Office Compares To Inside Out & Other Pixar Movies
Inside Out 2 Made Nearly Twice As Much As The First Movie
Inside Out 2 is the highest-grossing Pixar movie ever made (via The Numbers). It sured the previous record holder, Incredibles 2, which grossed $1,242,805,359 worldwide. Along with Incredibles 2, Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4, and Finding Dory, Inside Out 2 is one of five Pixar films to cross the $1 billion mark. The Inside Out sequel is a couple of tens of millions of dollars shy of doubling the lifetime gross of the first movie: $850,309,035. Of course, inflation is a big factor here: Finding Nemo grossed $936 million in 2003, but that would be worth $1.6 billion today.
Inside Out 2 Box Office Records Explained
Inside Out 2 Is The Highest-Grossing Animated Movie Ever Made
Since its release, Inside Out 2 has broken plenty of box office records. Most impressively, it’s become the highest-grossing animated movie ever made. It sured the 2019 remake of The Lion King, which was always a controversial contender for the record, since its animation is photorealistic. It was also dubbed a “live-action” version of the Disney classic. Now that Inside Out 2 has taken the crown, the highest-grossing animated movie ever made is indisputably an animated movie. But the 2024 sequel's records don’t stop there. The box office records that Inside Out 2 has broken are as follows:
- Highest-Grossing Film of 2024 (So Far)
- Biggest Opening Weekend of 2024 (So Far)
- Biggest Opening Weekend for an Animated Movie
- Biggest Second Weekend for an Animated Movie
- Lowest Second-Week Drop of Any Movie That Grossed Over $150 Million in Its Opening Week
- Highest-Grossing Animated Film at the Domestic Box Office
- Highest-Grossing Pixar Movie
- Highest-Grossing Animated Movie of All Time
Incredibles 2 was the previous holder of the records for both the highest-grossing Pixar movie and the highest-grossing animated movie at the domestic box office. If history repeats itself, Inside Out 2 will be dethroned by another long-awaited Pixar sequel in a couple of years. The Inside Out sequel scored the biggest domestic opening weekend since Greta Gerwig’s Barbie back in 2023, making it the biggest of 2024 so far. In addition to these records, Inside Out 2 is also the fastest animated movie to gross $1 billion at the box office, crossing that threshold just 19 days into its theatrical run.
What Inside Out 2's Box Office Means For Pixar
It Probably Means More Pixar Sequels Are On The Way
The double whammy of Elemental’s underperformance at the box office quickly followed by Inside Out 2’s blockbuster run will probably lead to a lot more Pixar sequels. Disney CEO Bob Iger wasted no time getting Moana 2, Frozen 3, Incredibles 3, and Toy Story 5 into development when he returned to the company, making it clear that he was hoping to revive the studio by focusing on its most reliable franchises. Sadly, the success of Inside Out 2 likely means it’ll be a while before Pixar gets back to telling original stories.
Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers
Inside Out 2
- Release Date
- June 14, 2024
- Runtime
- 96 Minutes
- Director
- Kelsey Mann
Cast
Joy
Anxiety
WHERE TO WATCH
Inside Out 2 is the sequel to the 2015 original film, which starred a young girl named Riley with a head full of emotions. - literally. With Amy Pohler as Joy, Bill Hader as fear, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, and Lewis Black as Anger, the all-star cast brought to life the emotions that adolescents face as they grow, change, and adapt to new situations. This sequel, currently in development, will bring Amy Pohler back as Joy, with Riley, now a teenager.
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