‘Inside Out 2’ becomes first animated film to hit $1 billion at international box office

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“Inside Out 2” has surpassed $1 billion at the international box office, one of 12 releases — and the only animated film — to ever cross that coveted milestone.

Though 55 films have grossed $1 billion globally (which is comprised of domestic and international ticket sales), just a dozen have managed to hit that benchmark from overseas markets alone — and 11 of those movies were live-action. While Disney’s 2019 “The Lion King” earned a staggering $1.1 billion internationally, the studio has categorized the remake as live-action rather than computer generated, so “Inside Out 2” is technically the first animated release to join the coveted club.

Getting to $1 billion means “Inside Out 2” has resonated pretty much everywhere, but the top foreign markets are Mexico ($102.2 million), Brazil ($80 million), the U.K. ($72.7 million), France ($62.6 million) and Korea ($60.8 million).

Disney’s Pixar sequel is already the highest-grossing movie of the year with $1.649 billion globally, including $1.002 billion overseas and $646.3 million domestically. Weeks ago, “Inside Out 2” overtook “Frozen II” as the highest-grossing animated film in history.

Disney has enjoyed a strong summer with two billion-dollar releases, the other being the Marvel superhero sequel “Deadpool &Wolverine.” To give a sense of the box office prowess of “Inside Out 2” among international audiences, “Deadpool &Wolverine” has generated a little more than half of that — a mighty $634.1 million — among the same set of markets. Of course, “Deadpool &Wolverine” is rated R, which theoretically limits its audience to the 18 and over crowd.

With $1.21 billion worldwide to date, “Deadpool &Wolverine” now stands as the eighth-biggest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having passed “Captain America: Civil War” ($1.155 billion). It’s expected to soon overtake “Iron Man 3” ($1.215 billion) to claim the No. 7 spot.

Another Disney tentpole, “Alien: Romulus,” added $41.6 million internationally and $57.8 million globally over the weekend, boosting its worldwide haul to $225.4 million. The newest chapter in the decades-old sci-fi horror saga has been one of the rare post-pandemic Hollywood movies to resonate in China, where grosses have reached $73.3 million so far.

Elsewhere at the international box office, two new releases — “Blink Twice” and “The Crow” reboot — failed to make a dent.