'Frozen 2' scored the biggest animated box office opening ever
Elsa's grand return is a hit.
Frozen 2 had an opening weekend to remember, with $127 million in U.S. tickets sold from Friday to Sunday, contributing to an international debut of $350.2 million. The latter figure marks the best opening to date for an animated feature on the global stage.
That newly broken record also raises the bar significantly for future animated releases. The previous record-holder was Toy Story 4, which opened earlier in 2019. The Pixar hit's first weekend in release brought in a still-mighty-impressive $240.9 million. But Frozen 2 bests it by more than $100 million.
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The $228.2 million that Frozen 2 picked up outside the U.S. also made it the biggest international opening to date for an animated movie. That record had been owned for the past decade by 2009's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which netted a $152 million box office outside the U.S. in its first days of release.
Domestically, Frozen 2 still comes in behind two other Disney faves among the top-earning animated features. Its $127 million weekend falls behind both Finding Dory ($135.1 million) and Incredibles 2 ($182.7 million), both from Pixar.
The box office race is a game of eternal escalation. Rising ticket prices and inflation more generally mean that every record is bound to fall eventually. But Frozen 2's opening weekend performance and the broken records it led to are still notable, mainly because of the extent to which those records were broken. The new movie posted some huge gains over previous record-holders.
The big start for Frozen 2 is a reflection of its 2013 predecessor's success, and the fan hype for a long-awaited sequel. Frozen was popular enough when it released widely during the Thanksgiving weekend that year, but its three-day start of $67.4 million is only slightly more than half of Frozen 2's initial domestic take.
Topics Disney
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
