The most recent film, "Inside Out 2," made $1 billion at the box office worldwide

"Inside Out 2," from Disney and Pixar, is the most recent addition to the billion-dollar club.

As of Sunday, the animated picture had brought in $1.014 billion globally, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2024 and the first to break $1 billion at the box office worldwide since Warner Bros.' "Barbie."

Michael O'Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said, "On behalf of movie theatre owners across the country and around the world, we want to congratulate Disney's 'Inside Out 2' for grossing $1 billion faster than any animated movie in history." 

"The film's incredible international success demonstrates once more that people want to watch interesting, entertaining films on big screens and that audiences around the world will respond to them."

Disney's Pixar animation studio has much-needed success with the billion-dollar threshold. 

After the epidemic, Pixar a studio that was once wildly successful has struggled at the movie office.

A significant portion of its problems have arisen as a result of Disney's decision to release a few animated films straight on the streaming platform Disney+ both during and after theatre closures.

Therefore, prior to "Inside Out 2," no Pixar or Walt Disney Animation studio animated film had made more than $480 million at the worldwide box office since 2019.

Another example of how important the family audience is to the box office is "Inside Out 2." 

Based on EntTelligence data, almost 70% of the audience for the film's domestic premiere was comprised of this underrepresented group.

Although this group of people showed up in large numbers for Universal's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which brought in over $1.36 billion at the worldwide box office, they had little to do with it until the release of Sony's "The Garfield Movie" and Paramount's "IF."

With 14% of foot traffic coming from individuals between the ages of 13 and 17, "Inside Out 2" also attracted the sought-after adolescent demographic to theatres. In recent years, this younger generation has mostly disappeared from the market.

This demographic is very significant to the movie industry since they represent the future of moviegoing. Studios and movie theatre owners now consider it their first priority to get them back on the big screen.

The next movie for families and teenagers to see is "Despicable Me 4," a Universal and Illumination production that opens in theatres on the weekend of July 4.