Jan 8, 2024

Migration, The Boy And The Heron, Wish, and Trolls were major box office performers last weekend

Last weekend, four animated feature-length films recorded significant domestic and worldwide box office success.

However, significant questions remain about the state of box office performance since Covid and the definition of success for original (non-sequel, non-IP) animated feature films.

A breakdown of the weekend box office results follows.

Milestone: $150 million worldwide box office, the 10th highest worldwide box office for an animated film released in 2023.

Benjamin Renner's "Migration" took fourth place at the domestic box office with $10.2 million in its third weekend of U.S. release. The film's North American total has reached $77.8 million and is expected to break the $100 million mark in the coming weeks.

Worldwide, the Illumination-produced film finished third for the weekend, earning $15.5 million from 73 offshore territories for a worldwide total of $25.7 million. Migration's worldwide total has reached $150.7 million, with some key territories yet to release the film, including the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea. It is currently the 10th highest grossing animated feature film released in 2023 worldwide.

The numbers for "Migration" appear to be decent on its own, but low for an Illumination feature film. It will certainly surpass the studio's lowest-grossing film, Hop, which grossed $188.5 million in 2011. The studio's next lowest, however, is Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax," which earned $351.1 million in 2012. The numbers seem insurmountable for Migration.

Milestone: $39.6 million at the North American box office, making it the fourth highest-grossing animated film in North American box office history.

Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Hare" grossed $1.7 million in North America over the weekend, bringing its total box office in the region to $39.6 million. This makes "The Boy and the Hare" the fourth highest-grossing animated film in U.S. box office history. The Ghibli-produced film closed out the weekend by winning the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature.

Milestone: $200 million worldwide box office, sixth highest worldwide box office for an animated film released in 2023.

In contrast to a lackluster $760,000 domestic weekend, "Chris Buck's Wish" continued to do well overseas, grossing $19 million in 51 territories. The film's worldwide box office now stands at $209.5 million, making it the sixth highest grossing animated feature film released in 2023. Wish has a very real possibility of overtaking China's Boonie Bears: fifth is The Guardian Code ($222 million) and fourth is Chang'an ($241.3 million).

Milestone: $200 million worldwide; 7th highest worldwide box office for an animated film released in 2023.

Walt Dohrn's Trolls Band Together added $1.2 million to the domestic box office over the weekend, surpassing $100 million eight weeks after it opened in theaters. This roughly matches its international box office, bringing its worldwide gross to $201 million. It is currently the seventh highest grossing animated film released in 2023.

While many of last weekend's renewed milestones are noteworthy, they still fall far short of pre-pandemic box office trends. It is not hard to imagine that in a pre-pandemic world, these and many other big animated films would have made much more money at the box office.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that original IP cannot keep up with franchise films and that the definition of success needs to be recalibrated. While films like "Migration" and "Elemental" are successes compared to their ill-fated debuts, will studios like Disney and Illumination be satisfied with their films breaking even - or would it make more sense to pump out sequel after sequel to their big-money franchises would make more sense - or would it make more sense to pump out sequel after sequel to their big-money franchises