Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. movie has been added to the list of animated films grossing $1 billion, which history has shown is no easy feat.
Summary
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The Super Mario Bros movie has become one of the few animated films to have grossed over a billion dollars, proving that animation can be a huge box office success.
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Studios like Disney, Pixar, and Illumination have cracked the formula for creating revenue-generating animated films, as evidenced by the success of films like Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Despicable Me 3.
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Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 have both surpassed the billion dollar mark, proving that the franchise has staying power and a dedicated fan base. It remains to be seen if Toy Story 5 can continue its success.
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The Super Mario Bros. movie has joined the select few animated films that have grossed over $1 billion at the box office. While Marvel projects or notable directors like Steven Spielberg can often be expected to join the Million Dollar Club, it’s much harder for the world of animation to make a similar mark. This is because these films are usually aimed at children, which allows them to please a much smaller audience. Still, recent years have shown that it is not impossible.
Studios like Disney, Pixar and Illumination have proven that they know what it takes to create an animated film that generates revenue at the box office. The Super Mario Bros. movie It is the most recent to reach a worldwide collection of more than one billion dollars. Of course, it is not likely to be the last, especially since a Super Mario Bros 2 has the potential to be just as successful (if not more so). Still, for now only ten animated films (via box office mojo) can boast of being part of the billion dollar or more list.
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10 Zootopia: 1,026 million dollars raised
Launched in 2016, zootopia It was the second Disney film to reach more than $1 billion at the box office. The film surprised audiences with its quite compelling social commentary, touching on important topics such as xenophobia and unconscious bias, while still being fun and lively for younger audiences. With the success of the film, it is no surprise that Disney Zootopia 2 in progress; the only thing strange is that the studio didn’t do this before.
9 Finding Dory: $1,029 million raised
Dory was one of the favorite characters in the 2003 Pixar film. Finding NemoWhat did 2016 do? Finding Dory as close as possible to guaranteed success. Still, the film’s $1.03 billion worldwide box office haul was a surprise. Dory’s story was a little more outrageous than Nemo’s, but that makes sense considering what a bigger character she is. In the end, it was the combination of nostalgia and the touching plot that allowed Finding Dory to become such a success.
8 Despicable Me 3: $1.035 million raised
Traditionally, sequels to animated films don’t do as well. However, things continued to improve for Illumination. My favorite villain franchise. The first film was considered a huge hit, but its $500 million global gross was nowhere near the Billion Dollar Club. My favourite villain 2 set the bar much higher, reaching around $900 million gross. It’s easy to imagine this being the highest the franchise could reach. Still, since the characters (and the lovable Minions) are loved by audiences of all ages, Despicable Me 3 It showed that the franchise knows no limits.
7 Toy Story 3: 1,067 million dollars raised
The first toy story The film was released in 1995 when Pixar rarely made sequels. If Disney released a second film to follow up one of its biggest hits, it was usually direct-to-video and wasn’t expected to make much additional money. Still, toy story 2 showed the potential for blockbuster sequels, but even that was nothing compared to toy Story 3. This third installment made history by becoming the first animated film to gross more than a billion dollars. So even though it sits near the middle of this list, its place will always be honored.
6 Toy Story 4: 1,074 million dollars raised
It was difficult to imagine that Pixar could duplicate its success with toy Story 3but they still did it. toy story 4, released in 2019, managed to make a little more money than its predecessor, setting a big trend for the franchise. The film’s story was wrapped in a nice little bow, in case its performance indicated it was time to move on from Woody and Buzz’s story. However, with toy story 4the success, toy story 5 It is officially in process. Only time will tell if he can keep the billion-dollar ball rolling.
5 Minions: 1,159 million dollars raised
The lighting had the good feeling that Despicable Me 3 had the potential to reach a billion dollars from Minions had achieved a few years earlier in 2015. The film focused on the titular yellow minions, who, at that point, had already left a surprising mark on popular culture. The irresistible creatures appealed to adults and children alike, so an entire adventure centered around their antics had great potential. Of course, Illumination went ahead and made Minions their first project to gross $1 billion and the third animated film to do so overall.
4 Incredibles 2: $1,243 million raised
The Incredibles It was released in 2004 and achieved an impressive global gross of $631 million. Despite this success, it would be 15 years before Disney Pixar released a sequel. This could have worked in the studio’s favor, as many of the original viewers had grown up and watched the title with a strong feeling of nostalgia. When incredibles 2 Hitting theaters in 2018, several generations of moviegoers were eager to see the continuing story of the Parr family. This allowed Pixar to achieve its highest box office numbers yet.
3 Frozen: 1,285 million dollars raised
Disney princess movies were considered classics at the time of their release by default, but Frozen achieved this on a completely different level. After decades of princess movies that followed a standard plot formula, Anna and Elsa arrived on the scene and changed things. The initial love interest ended up being the villain (without any aggressive foreshadowing), and the “true love” magic was that of two sisters, not a romantic couple. Ultimately, this was precisely the kind of change Disney needed. Frozen became the central studio’s first billion-dollar hit and a new franchise was born that allowed frozen 2 and Frozen 3.
2 The Super Marion Bros movie: 1.36 billion dollars raised
The lighting was a great success with the My favorite villain franchise, but none of the studio’s other projects had come close to $1 billion. However, after reaching an agreement with Nintendo, the promise of another blockbuster was in the air. He Super Mario The video game franchise has held the constant interest of children and adults for 40 years, which meant that audiences were primed and ready for a good film adaptation. Still, it’s been much harder to break into the Billion Dollar Club since the 2020 COVID shutdowns, even for traditional movies. Of course, this didn’t stop. The Super Mario Bros. movie. It’s only a matter of time before a sequel achieves something even better.
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1 Frozen 2 – $1.454 billion raised
Once again, it was difficult to imagine that Disney could improve on its success with Frozen. Sequels can sometimes risk tarnishing the name of the original, and Disney only waited six years before releasing the next installment of Anna and Elsa’s story. The plot twists and visually striking musical numbers of Frozen They would be hard to beat, but Frozen 2 managed to blow his predecessor out of the water. The Disney film was beautifully made with an interesting plot that attracted audiences regardless of age. This allowed Frozen 2 to claim the title of the highest-grossing animated film of all time, at least for now.