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It was always going to be a big year for animated family films.
2026 Box Office Battle of the Studios
In theaters, it’s a two-film year for the two CGI heavyweights: Disney’s Pixar and Universal’s Illumination. Pixar went first with original IP, Hoppers, currently sitting at a respectable-for-new-IP $350M at worldwide box office. It bested its closest original competitor, Sony’s GOAT. Those aren’t, however, the legs Elemental showed back in 2023, closing closer to $500M, so respectable-for-new not good-for-new seems to be the level.
Hoppers gave itself a clean runway with that March release. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrived a month later from Illumination and is now cruising towards $1 billion globally. The summer puts the two studios in a direct pile-up: Toy Story 5 hits theaters June 19th, Minions & Monsters lands July 1st—mega-franchise sequels going head-to-head, one weekend apart. It’s a personal and professional case of “get your popcorn,” but what happens after the theatrical run?
Disney’s Sequel Score Card
Thinking bigger than theaters, there’s another place we need to check. The final numbers are in for Disney’s sequel trinity: Zootopia 2 has landed on Disney+, completing the picture for US streaming. We now have the data for Inside Out 2, Moana 2 and Zootopia 2. I’ve written about this a couple of times before.
So where do we stand on which Disney sequel did best?
