The Big Picture

Inside Out 2 breaks global records, ranking as Pixar’s second-biggest hit.
The film surpasses Finding Dory, Toy Story 3, and Toy Story 4 at the box office.
Inside Out 2 is Pixar’s biggest hit in six years, overcoming pandemic challenges.

With its 20-day free run at the box office now over with Despicable Me 4 launching mid-week, Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out 2 broke new global records on Wednesday. The blockbuster sequel has now cemented itself as one of the top-grossing animated movies in history, both domestically and worldwide, and now ranks as the second-biggest hit in the history of Pixar. The legendary animation house has battled its share of difficulties in recent years, but the success of Inside Out 2 has been a sight to behold.

On its third Wednesday of release, the film overtook Finding Dory domestically and Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 at the global box office, to become Pixar’s second-biggest hit of all time. On both fronts, Inside Out 2 trails only Incredibles 2, which concluded its run with $608 million domestically and $1.2 billion worldwide in 2018. Inside Out 2 has now grossed a hair under $490 million domestically, and $1.073 billion worldwide.

Inside Out 2 overtook the $1.06 billion and $1.07 billion lifetime global hauls of Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 on Wednesday, and is now the third-biggest animated movie of all time domestically, and the sixth-biggest worldwide, behind Minions ($1.1 billion), Incredibles 2 ($1.24 billion), Frozen ($1.27 billion), The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.3 billion) and Frozen II ($1.4 billion). On the all-time domestic chart, it trails The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s $574 million lifetime haul, and Incredibles 2’s record $608 million lifetime haul. Inside Out 2 debuted with $154 million domestically — the second-biggest opening weekend haul in the history of animated films, and the best of 2024, ahead of Dune: Part Two’s $81 million debut.

Only Five Pixar Movies Have Grossed Over $1 Billion Worldwide; They’re All Sequels

Inside Out 2 is Pixar’s biggest hit in six years. The studio has struggled in the post-pandemic era, having delivered a string of under-performers that led to layoffs. Several of its movies — Soul, Luca, Turning Red — were released directly on the Disney+ streaming platform in the domestic market due to the pandemic, and an over-eagerness to build a viable Netflix rival. And the ones that were deemed worthy of a theatrical release — Lightyear and Elemental — failed to deliver at the box office. Unlike other studios, Pixar continues to spend top-dollar on its projects; Inside Out 2cost a reported $200 million to produce, which is over double what Universal spent on Kung Fu Panda 4.

Directed by debutante Kelsey Mann, the movie received positive reviews upon release, and appears to have settled on a 90% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. By comparison, Pete Docter’s Oscar-winning original Inside Out had a 98% RT score, and grossed around $860 million in its global run. You can watch Inside Out 2 in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Inside Out 2 Follow Riley, in her teenage years, encountering new emotions.Release Date June 14, 2024 Director Kelsey Mann