After exactly four years of misfortune, Pixar can heave a sigh of relief as Inside Out 2 shatters box office records of all kinds. This week, its fourth in theaters worldwide, the animated sequel became the studio’s top-grossing film of all time at the global box office, and in doing so, pushed Pixar’s cumulative revenue past an incredible milestone. As of this week, the nearly 30 Pixar movies released so far have grossed a combined total of over $16.5 billion worldwide, with five titles having individually passed the coveted $1 billion milestone worldwide.

Inside Out 2 is the most recent entrant in this exclusive club, with $1.25 billion in global box office revenue. The movie recently overtook Incredibles 2’s $1.24 billion lifetime haul from 2018. The three other Pixar movies to have made more than $1 billion worldwide are Toy Story 4 ($1.07 billion), Toy Story 3 ($1.06 billion) and Finding Dory ($1.02 billion). Incidentally, each of these five movies is a sequel. Pixar began operations in 1995 with the groundbreaking first Toy Story movie, which remained the studio’s only film to have spawned follow-ups until Cars 2 in 2011. Since then, however, Pixar has doubled down on the franchise model, to clearly successful results.

Pixar Movies Have Grossed $16.6 Billion Globally

Top Five Pixar Movies
Global Box Office

Inside Out 2
$1.25 billion (and counting)

Incredibles 2
$1.24 billion

Toy Story 4
$1.07 billion

Toy Story 3
$1.06 billion

Finding Dory
$1.02 billion

Inside Out 2 debuted in June to majestic numbers, delivering the second-best domestic debut for an animated release. It has since become the third-biggest animated movie of all time domestically — behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Incredibles 2 — and the fourth-biggest worldwide, behind Frozen, Super Mario, and Frozen II. By the looks of it, the movie has a solid chance of eventually overtaking Frozen II’s $1.4 billion lifetime global haul to become the biggest animated release in history. This weekend, it’ll overtake Super Mario domestically, after which it’ll set its sights on Incredibles 2’s $608 million lifetime domestic haul.

By comparison, the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, with nearly $30 billion in global box office revenue. The Despicable Me series, which recently saw the release of Despicable Me 4, has generated nearly $5 billion worldwide, but from only six releases. The six Shrek movies, on the other hand, have grossed over $4 billion globally. As far as animation houses are concerned, Illumination has earned nearly $10 billion in global revenue, Sony Pictures Animation movies have generated over $5.7 billion worldwide, while the now-defunct Blue Sky Studios grossed over $5 billion worldwide. Films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios have grossed over $11 billion worldwide.

Pixar’s first film to pass $1 billion in global box office revenue was Toy Story 3. Like Inside Out 2, the movie was also produced on a reported budget of $200 million. While rival studios have drastically reduced spending on their animated films, Pixar continues to spend top-dollar on its movies, despite recent setbacks. The pandemic forced Disney to release three Pixar movies in a row — Soul, Luca, and Turning Red — on the Disney+ streaming platform. Pixar’s two subsequent theatrical releases — Lightyear and Elemental — under-performed to varying degrees. But Inside Out 2’s success has set new benchmarks for the decorated studio. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Inside Out 2