Hollywood knows how to mine box-office gold, and since the release of the original “Toy Story” in 1995, worldwide grosses for children’s movies have soared. (These are the 40 most profitable kids’ movies of all time.)
To compile a list of the top-grossing kids movies every year since “Toy Story” came out, 24/7 Tempo ranked all movies released since 1995 by their worldwide box-office gross, using data from The Numbers, an online movie database owned by Nash Information Services.
In the 28 years since Pixar’s story about talking toys and their relationship with their human owners was released, there have been just two years – 1995 and 1997- in which worldwide gross for kids’ flicks have fallen under $1 billion. Worldwide gross eclipsed $7 billion in 2016 and 2019.
The number of children’s films released by the movie industry has leapt as well. In 1997, just nine kid-oriented motion pictures were released according to The Numbers. In 2019, there were 179.
“Toy Story” was a critical and box-office hit and spawned three sequels for Pixar Animation Studios, which produced its films sometimes in collaboration with Walt Disney Pictures. Other successes for Pixar included the Monsters and the Incredibles franchises. (Beware of the worst movie from every major franchise.)
As you might expect, Disney itself is well-represented on our list, with films such as “101 Dalmatians,” “Flubber,” “Dinosaur,” and “Frozen.”
DreamWorks Animation got on the children’s movie gravy train with runaway hit franchises such as Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda, while 20th Century Fox found success with the Ice Age franchise.
1995: Toy Story
> Worldwide box office: $519,776,702
> Est. avg. production budget: $37,500,000
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 1995: 15
> Main cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles
1996: 101 Dalmatians
> Worldwide box office: $1,245,802,262
> Est. avg. production budget: $46,706,000
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 1996: 19
> Main cast: Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson
24/7 Tempo
1997: Flubber
> Worldwide box office: $473,204,530
> Est. avg. production budget: $44,000,000
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 1997: 9
> Main cast: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald
1998: A Bug’s Life
> Worldwide box office: $1,207,845,196
> Est. avg. production budget: $47,437,500
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 1998: 12
> Main cast: Kevin Spacey, David Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
1999: Toy Story 2
> Worldwide box office: $1,188,514,901
> Est. avg. production budget: $43,100,000
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 1999: 12
> Main cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
2000: Dinosaur
> Worldwide box office: $1,742,749,842
> Est. avg. production budget: $55,966,667
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2000: 23
> Main cast: D.B. Sweeney, Juliana Margulies, Samel E. Wright
2001: Monsters, Inc.
> Worldwide box office: $1,936,346,714
> Est. avg. production budget: $44,416,667
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2001: 16
> Main cast: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Mary Gibbs
2002: Ice Age
> Worldwide box office: $2,082,713,035
> Est. avg. production budget: $47,882,353
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2002: 21
> Main cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary
2003: Finding Nemo
> Worldwide box office: $2,328,122,547
> Est. avg. production budget: $57,454,545
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2003: 18
> Main cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould
2004: Shrek 2
> Worldwide box office: $3,034,453,945
> Est. avg. production budget: $63,076,923
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2004: 24
> Main cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
2005: Madagascar
> Worldwide box office: $2,657,257,398
> Est. avg. production budget: $62,615,385
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2005: 17
> Main cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer
2006: Ice Age: The Meltdown
> Worldwide box office: $3,717,184,328
> Est. avg. production budget: $71,785,714
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2006: 29
> Main cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary
2007: Shrek the Third
> Worldwide box office: $2,355,530,934
> Est. avg. production budget: $110,333,333
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2007: 27
> Main cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
2008: Kung Fu Panda
> Worldwide box office: $1,814,956,870
> Est. avg. production budget: $63,100,000
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2008: 36
> Main cast: Jack Black, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie
2009: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
> Worldwide box office: $3,114,911,412
> Est. avg. production budget: $68,934,615
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2009: 35
> Main cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary
2010: Toy Story 3
> Worldwide box office: $4,313,371,062
> Est. avg. production budget: $77,473,684
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2010: 68
> Main cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
2011: Kung Fu Panda 2
> Worldwide box office: $4,474,753,322
> Est. avg. production budget: $80,970,588
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2011: 55
> Main cast: Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie
2012: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
> Worldwide box office: $3,606,210,433
> Est. avg. production budget: $63,417,647
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2012: 71
> Main cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith
2013: Frozen
> Worldwide box office: $5,397,761,623
> Est. avg. production budget: $78,743,750
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2013: 76
> Main cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff
2014: Rio 2
> Worldwide box office: $2,942,523,505
> Est. avg. production budget: $44,995,238
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2014: 73
> Main cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jemaine Clement
2015: Minions
> Worldwide box office: $5,012,242,982
> Est. avg. production budget: $48,857,423
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2015: 164
> Main cast: Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton
2016: Finding Dory
> Worldwide box office: $7,000,729,815
> Est. avg. production budget: $65,970,833
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2016: 163
> Main cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O’Neill
2017: Despicable Me 3
> Worldwide box office: $5,115,872,788
> Est. avg. production budget: $78,366,667
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2017: 160
> Main cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker
2018: Incredibles 2
> Worldwide box office: $4,946,154,362
> Est. avg. production budget: $83,666,667
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2018: 177
> Main cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell
2019: The Lion King
> Worldwide box office: $7,553,872,060
> Est. avg. production budget: $92,288,155
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2019: 179
> Main cast: Donald Glover, Beyoncé, Seth Rogen
2020: Sonic The Hedgehog
> Worldwide box office: $1,681,979,009
> Est. avg. production budget: $91,321,429
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2020: 116
> Main cast: Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Jim Carrey
2021: Sing 2
> Worldwide box office: $1,874,884,614
> Est. avg. production budget: $82,000,000
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2021: 141
> Main cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson
2022: Minions: The Rise of Gru
> Worldwide box office: $2,701,506,767
> Est. avg. production budget: $89,285,714
> Total kids’ fiction movies released in 2022: 173
> Main cast: Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Alan Arkin
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