La Reine des Neiges II [Walt Disney Animation Studios - 2019]

In a box office achievement fit for royalty, Disney’s “Frozen 2” is officially the highest-grossing animated movie in history.

The sequel has generated $1.325 billion at the global box office, pushing past “Frozen” ($1.281 million) and “Incredibles 2” ($1.243 million) to secure the top spot. Though Jon Favreau’s remake of “The Lion King” is entirely computer generated and earned $1.65 billion in 2019, Disney considers it a live-action reboot rather than an animated flick. Either way, the benchmark only solidifies Disney’s place as the preeminent force on all things animation — the studio is now responsible for the top three biggest cartooned movie of all time.

“Frozen 2,” a sequel to the 2013 musical sensation, was the third-biggest film of 2019 after Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.79 billion) and “The Lion King” ($1.65 billion). In the U.S., “Frozen 2” has collected $449 million and remained in the top five for an impressive seven weeks straight. Overseas, the family-friendly film brought in $875.4 million to date. Outside of North America, “Frozen 2” amassed the biggest bounty in China ($118 million), followed by Japan ($103.8 million), Korea ($96.2 million) and the United Kingdom ($65 million).


“Frozen 2” notched a number of box office milestones since debuting on Nov. 22. It launched with $130 million, setting a November record for an animated movie and becoming the first animated title outside of summer to surpass triple digits in its first weekend. The movie also set a new pinnacle for the Thanksgiving box office, earning $123 million over the five-day holiday frame.

After becoming Disney’s 6th film of the year to cross the $1B threshold worldwide when it hit the milestone in mid-December, Frozen 2 has now capitalized on holiday play to become the biggest animated movie of all time globally. With an estimated $1.325B, the Chris Buck/Jennifer Lee-helmed sequel has iced the previous record holder, Frozen ($1.281B), as well as Incredibles 2 ($1.243B), to take over the crown. The current split is $449.9M domestic and $875.3M at the international box office. The top three animated titles ever on a worldwide basis are now all Disney Animation/Pixar releases.

This weekend, Frozen 2 added $42.4M from 55 material offshore markets and $11.3M from 3,175 domestic locations. There were great starts in the final markets of Brazil ($10.3M), Argentina ($1.9M) and Bolivia ($600K) with each posting the highest Disney Animation openings of all time. Brazil and Argentina set new January records, and Brazil also posted the 7th best industry launch weekend ever. The already-opened international markets dropped overall by just 32% from last session and Frozen 2 remained No. 1 across Scandinavia following last frame‘s record openings there.

Individual holds were strong during the post-New Year play with Russia up by 156% and Japan also up, by 4%. Elsewhere the drops were slight: Netherlands (-12%), Belgium (-17%), Chile (-20%), Czech Rep (-20%), UK (-24%), Austria (-24%), Switzerland (-24%), Germany (-26%), New Zealand (-26%), Spain (-27%), Mexico (-28%) and Australia (-32%).

The Top 5 offshore markets to date are China ($118.8M), Japan ($103.8M), Korea ($96.2M), the UK ($65M) and Germany ($55.1M). On the previous film, Japan was ultimately in the lead with a staggering $249M (and a No. 1 hold for 16 weeks); followed by Korea, the UK, Germany and China. Frozen 2 went out in a different release pattern to that of the original, which took 15 weeks to get to $1B, whereas the current movie did it in just four frames.

When Frozen 2 debuted in late November, it blew past projections, skating off with the best animated opening of all time internationally ($228.2M) and worldwide ($358.2M). Domestically, the pic snowballed to the top November bow for an animated pic ever.

Box Office Mojo

Four years ago, during dinner one night our beautiful little girl had a huge epiphany that shook her to her core...we all have to grow up. This heartbreaking moment is something I never shared publicly before because it was so personal. Our Nanny at the time, Sara, did such a remarkable job helping guide her through this difficult “coming of age” moment and I constantly look back at it as a reminder of the fragility of youth and our struggle to make sense of our place in this rapid world. It just so happens that I shared this video with our brilliant Frozen 2 team at the time and said, I believe this should be Olaf’s journey in Frozen 2. I’m beyond grateful they felt the same way because growing up is so very hard and all of us have this moment at some point in our lives. I’m also beyond thankful that we were able to capture such a monumental moment and that I can share it now with all of you who either have children or were once children asking that very same question...”why do I have to be a grownup?” Hope you take from it as much as I have. As a side note, that is the voice of my other child in the bg missing the plot completely and focusing instead on watching a DVD of “Peter Pan.”