The OtherArena

[jdw]

2016 edit:

Was thinking about redoing this for it's own there, then thought I might as well break it off from the 2013 BO thread into it's own thread. The original idea was to cover the Pixar Era, but now that I've broken it off, I'll go back to the 80s to get some perspective leading into Disney's late era heyday launched with Beauty And The Beast, which in turn leads into Pixar's era.

I'll break off the annual lists into their own posts, broken into 5 year increments.

So here goes.

* * * *

The Champs (original release numbers):

1981 - $39,900,000 - The Fox and the Hound (Disney) (#14)
1982 - $14,665,733 - The Secret of NIMH (Bluth/MGM/UA) (#52)*
1983 - $11,234,220 - The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (n/a) (#62)*
1984 - none
1985 - $22,934,622 - The Care Bears Movie(#40)*
1986 - $47,483,002 - An American Tail (Bluth/Amblin) (#16)
1987 - $6,804,312 - The Chipmunk Adventure (#100)*
1988 - $156,452,370 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Touchstone / Amblin) (#2)
1988 - $53,279,055 - Oliver & Company (Disney) (#17)
1989 - $84,355,863 - The Little Mermaid (Disney) (#13)
1990 - $27,931,461 - The Rescuers Down Under (Disney) (#42)*
1991 - $145,863,363 - Beauty and the Beast (Disney) (#3)
1992 - $217,350,219 - Aladdin (Disney) (#1)
1993 - $50,003,043 - The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney / Touchstone) (#27)
1994 - $312,855,561 - The Lion King (Disney) (#2)
1995 - $191,796,233 - Toy Story (Pixar) (#1)
1996 - $63,118,386 - Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (Paramount) (#21)
1997 - $99,112,101 - Hercules (Disney) (#17)
1998 - $162,798,565 - A Bug's Life (Pixar) (#4)
1999 - $245,852,179 - Toy Story 2 (Pixar) (#3)
2000 - $137,748,063 - Dinosaur (Disney) (#11)
2001 - $267,665,011 - Shrek (DreamWorkds) (#3)
2002 - $176,387,405 - Ice Age (Blue Sky) ) (#9)
2003 - $339,714,978 - Finding Nemo (Pixar) (#2)
2004 - $441,226,247 - Shrek 2 (Dream Works) (#1)
2005 - $193,595,521 - Madagascar (Dream Works) (#9)
2006 - $244,082,982 - Cars (Pixar) (#3)
2007 - $322,719,944 - Shrek the Third (Dream Works) (#3)
2008 - $223,808,164 - WALL-E (Pixar) (#5)
2009 - $293,004,164 - Up (Pixar) (#5)
2010 - $415,004,880 - Toy Story 3 (Pixar) (#1)
2011 - $191,452,396 - Cars 2 (Pixar) (#8)
2012 - $237,283,207 - Brave (Pixar) (#8)
2013 - $400,738,009 - Frozen (Disney) (#3)
2014 - $257,760,692 The LEGO Movie (#5)
2015 - $356,461,711 Inside Out (Pixar) (#4)

* = Top new release while a re-issue ranked number one
Italics = animation/live action mix that was number one
# = where the movie ranked on the overall box office list for the year

John

[Bob Morris]

When comparing animated movies, The Lion King is pretty much the standard to compare animated movies today.

Back when Hangover was doing strong business, I pulled out the comparisons to Animal House and Mrs. Doubtfire, which did monster business for their time, and thus put into perspective just how strong Hangover was as far as comedies go.

With animated movies, The Lion King is the perfect example of a phenom among animated flicks. Shrek 2 and Toy Story 3 fit right in with and Up, as you mentioned, had such strong legs that it would qualify as a phenom in its own right.

We've certainly had quite an influx of animated flicks in recent years, thanks in large part to computer animation making it more cost effective to put together such a film.

But in terms of the measuring stick, I think Lion King still qualifies as that, much as Animal House and Mrs. Doubtfire qualify as the measuring stick for comedies.

[jdw]

1980-84

1980 - $26,114,207 Lady and the Tramp (Disney) (re-issue)
1980 - $19,800,000 Song of the South (Disney) (re-issue)
1980 - $18,000,000 The Aristocats (re-issue)


1981 - $39,900,000 The Fox and the Hound (Disney)
1981 - $28,040,000 Cinderella (Disney) (re-issue)


1982 - $23,000,000 Bambi (Disney) (re-issue)
1982 - $17,200,000 Peter Pan (Disney) (re-issue)
1982 - $14,665,733 - The Secret of NIMH (Bluth/MGM/UA)
1982 - $6,455,330 The Last Unicorn
1982 - $5,124,391 Heidi's Song


1983 - $30,100,000 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney) (re-issue)
1983 - $21,000,000 The Rescuers (Disney) (re-issue)
1983 - $12,000,000 The Sword in the Stone (re-issue)
1983 - $11,234,220 The Smurfs and the Magic Flute

We're in the Re-Issue era where nothing does strong numbers with the exception of (i) re-issues and (ii) Disney's first new movie in four years, The Fox and the Hound.

Bluth was a former Disney animator who went out on his own. NIMH was a modest success, but led to a later big one.


1984 - $26,414,038 Pinocchio (Disney) (re-issue)
1984 - $23,456,945 The Jungle Book (Disney) (re-issue)

1984 was a distaster where there isn't even a good candidate for the #1 of new releases: Mojo has no movie listed release in 1984 on their animation chart.

[jdw]

1985-89

1985 - $33,049,729 101 Dalmatians (Disney) (re-issue)
1985 - $22,934,622 - The Care Bears Movie (Goldwyn)
1985 - $21,288,692 The Black Cauldron (Disney)
1985 - $8,194,726 Fantasia (Disney) (re-issue)

More of the same. The Black Cauldron was a legendary bomb for Disney, almost killing the animation studio for going so overbudget and pulling in so little relative to its $40M+ budget.


1986 - $47,483,002 - An American Tail (Bluth/Amblin)
1986 - $38,625,550 The Great Mouse Detective (Disney)
1986 - $31,129,082 Lady and the Tramp (Disney) (re-issue)
1986 - $17,659,346 Song of the South (Disney) (re-issue)
1986 - $15,120,195 Sleeping Beauty (Disney) (re-issue)

American Tail finishing #16 in the box office was a huge shot in the arm that animation wasn't dead. In turn, Mouse Detective on a more modest budget than Cauldron and doing better business than a trio of re-issues by the company gave Disney some hope that they could still make movies.

One could say this is the first blip on the coming Renaissance.


1987 - $46,594,212 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney) (re-issue)
1987 - $34,101,149 Cinderella (Disney) (re-issue)
1987 - $17,452,658 The Aristocats (Disney) (re-issue)
1987 - $6,804,312 - The Chipmunk Adventure (Goldwyn)

A difference in the era was that there weren't yet movies line up in the pipeline to be released every year. That was about to change.


1988 - $156,452,370 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Touchstone / Amblin)
1988 - $53,279,055 Oliver & Company (Disney)
1988 - $48,092,846 The Land Before Time (Bluth / Amblin)
1988 - $39,047,150 Bambi (Disney) (re-issue)
1988 - $23,556,988 The Fox and the Hound (Disney) (re-issue)

Roger Rabbit is an animated movie, but not fully. It needs to be noted, and one can pick whether it was the change of a full animated movie like Oliver was.

We again get a 1-2 combo of Disney & Bluth, with Disney having to be pleased they didn't job here to their rival. Animation back in the Top 20 again.

1989 - $84,355,863 The Little Mermaid (Disney)
1989 - $29,445,131 Peter Pan (Disney) (re-issue)
1989 - $27,100,027 All Dogs Go to Heaven (Bluth / Goldcrest)
1989 - $21,215,869 The Rescuers (Disney) (re-issue)

Mermaid was a big leap forward in box office. The Disney Renaissance tends to be dated as starting here, and it's perfectly reasonable.

So from Animation looking like it might be dead earlier in the decade, including at Disney, the decade ends with Disney as king in a monster way along with a healthy rival in Bluth.

[jdw]

1990-94

1990 - $44,645,619 The Jungle Book (Disney) (re-issue)
1990 - $27,931,461 The Rescuers Down Under
1990 - $25,363,371 Fantasia (Disney) (re-issue)
1990 - $20,305,841 Duck Tales: The Movie
1990 - $18,115,724 Jetsons: The Movie

Disney just has a placeholder in Rescuers 2 rather then being able to instantly capitalize on Mermaid.


1991 - $145,863,363 Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
1991 - $60,830,285 101 Dalmatians (Disney) (re-issue)
1991 - $22,166,041 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

BOOM~! The #3 movie of the year, and Oscar nomination for Best Picture, the first ever for an animated movie.


1992 - $217,350,219 - Aladdin (Disney)
1992 - $24,650,296 - Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
1992 - $18,863,559 - Pinocchio (Disney) (re-issue)
1992 - $13,288,756 - The Great Mouse Detective (Disney) (re-issue)
1992 - $11,657,385 - Rock-A-Doodle (Bluth / Goldcrest)

Because it's sandwiched between the Oscar Nominee and the Phenom, people tend to forget that Aladdin was the first animated movie of this era to be the #1 box office movie of the year. Three other movies have done it since, and they're all kind of famous for it. Aladdin has been quietly fogotten, not even getting a re-release.

Rock-A-Doodle maked the death of Bluth's original company, as it was a massive bomb.


1993 - $50,003,043 - The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney / Touchstone)
1993 - $41,634,471 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney) (re-issue)

Disney's fresh movie of the year was one they didn't want to put out under the Disney banner as being a bit edgy, so it got the Touchstone treatment.


1994 - $312,855,561 - The Lion King (Disney)
1994 - $11,373,501 - Thumbelina (Bluth)
1994 - $71,368 - A Troll in Central Park (Bluth)

BOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!

Lion King wasn't #1 overall in the year due to Gump. But the insane level of box office opened even more eyes.

That number for Troll is correct: $71K. Bluth's indy career is over with a string of expensive bombs.

Disney is King, not just within animation but also battling at the top of the entire box office wars.

[jdw]

1995-99

1995 - $191,796,233 - Toy Story (Pixar)
1995 - $141,579,773 - Pocahontas (Disney)
1995 - $35,348,597 - A Goofy Movie (Disney)
1995 - $3,983,912 - The Pebble and the Penguin (Bluth / MGM)

And the world changes. Pixar debuts at #1, not just in anination but as the #1 movie over a soft year. Disney did great business with Pocahontas, but gets beat by their partner studio. A sign of the future: computer generated movies over Disney's old school art.

Bluth has another bomb, this time working for a mess that was MGM at the time.


1996 - $100,138,851 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
1996 - $90,418,342 - Space Jam (Warner)
1996 - $63,118,386 - Beavis and Butt-Head Do America


1997 - $99,112,101 - Hercules (Disney)
1997 - $58,406,347 - Anastasia (Fox / Bluth)

Disney back on top, more in the theme of their Beauty & The Beast style film making.

Bluth works for the developing Fox Animation, and produces a hit very much in the Disney-style mode.


1998 - $162,798,565 - A Bug's Life (Pixar)
1998 - $120,620,254 - Mulan (Disney)
1998 - $101,413,188 - The Prince of Egypt (Dream Works)
1998 - $100,494,675 - The Rugrats Movie
1998 - $90,757,863 - Antz (Dream Works)

Pixar wins the title again in the second time out, knocking off Disney's big release of the year. Dream Works shows up with two strong debuts.

1999 - $245,852,179 - Toy Story 2 (Pixar)
1999 - $171,091,819 - Tarzan (Disney)
1999 - $85,744,662 - Pokemon: The First Movie

And Pixar goes back-to-back for the first time.

A stretch of years where Disney and Pixar are going toe-to-toe,and DreamWorks just flashed their potential. One era is about to close, while Pixar and Dreamworks lead into the next.

[jdw]

2000-2004

2000 - $137,748,063 - Dinosaur (Disney)
2000 - $106,834,564 - Chicken Run (Dream Works)
2000 - $60,655,420 - Fantasia 2000 (Disney)
2000 - $76,507,756 - Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
2000 - $89,302,687 - The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)
2000 - $22,753,426 - Titan A.E. (Fox / Bluth)

Disney Animation's last champion (until recent times), it also was computer-animated characters rather than old drawing. In a sense, Old School Disney's last real champ was Hercules back in 1997.

Titan A.E. was an extremely expensive movie, a third of which was from it's early days as a live-action project before he got involved. The studio effectively was shut down as the move was getting released, and without a lot of push from Fox. Bluth has never made another movie since.


2001 - $267,665,011 - Shrek (Dream Works)
2001 - $255,873,250 - Monsters, Inc. (Pixar)
2001 - $80,936,232 - Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
2001 - $84,056,472 - Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Disney)

A major milestone on two levels: the first Pixar release not to win the Title, and Dream Works' first champion.

Monsters would get a 3-D release so it's lifetime is above Shrek. But in reality, the champ that year was Shrek.


2002 - $176,387,405 - Ice Age (Blue Sky)
2002 - $145,794,338 - Lilo & Stitch (Disney)
2002 - $73,280,117 - Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (Dreamworks)

Blue Sky debuts with their one and only Champion.

In hindsight this is somewhat sad. Lilo & Stich might be the final old school traditional Disney animation that had a chance to win the Title... and it's a heck of a little movie.

We now have four studio joining the battle, all with levels of success: Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky. More would pop up, some would come and go, bit


2003 - $339,714,978 - Finding Nemo (Pixar)
2003 - $85,336,277 - Brother Bear (Disney)

Pixar is back and it mops up setting a new record for box office. A total phenom.


2004 - $441,226,247 - Shrek 2 (Dream Works)
2004 - $261,441,092 - The Incredibles (Pixar)
2004 - $183,373,735 - The Polar Express
2004 - $160,861,908 - Shark Tale (Dream Works)
2004 - $85,417,988 - The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

Shrek 2 promptly shatters Nemo's record.

There's a sense from looking at this that Dream Works is non stop ass kicking. But after the Antz + Prince of Egypt debut in 1998, they semi-bombed with Road to El Dorado in 2000 ($50M), done mild business with Spirit in 2002 ($73M), and completely bombed out with Sinbad in 2003 ($26M). This is pretty much why Pixar's rep was bullet proof: everything they released was doing big business.

[jdw]

2005-2009

2005 - $193,595,521 - Madagascar (Dream Works)
2005 - $135,386,665 - Chicken Little (Disney)
2005 - $128,200,012 - Robots (Blue Sky)

Dream Works goes back-to-back for the first time, and given their willingness to do lots of sequels, it looks like they might be the new top studio. Chicken Little is another Disney Studios computer animated movie.


2006 - $244,082,982 - Cars (Pixar)
2006 - $198,000,317 - Happy Feet
2006 - $195,330,621 - Ice Age: The Meltdown (Blue Sky)
2006 - $155,019,340 - Over the Hedge (Dream Works)
2006 - $85,105,259 - Open Season
2006 - $73,661,010 - Monster House
2006 - $72,637,803 - Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
2006 - $64,665,672 - Flushed Away

And Pixar is back.

Happy Feet was a Kennedy Miller Productions movie. They never really took off in Animation, doing a sequel and not seeming to do anything after that.


2007 - $322,719,944 - Shrek the Third (Dream Works)
2007 - $206,445,654 - Ratatouille (Pixar)
2007 - $183,135,014 - The Simpsons Movie
2007 - $126,631,277 - Bee Movie (Dream Works)
2007 - $97,822,171 - Meet the Robinsons
2007 - $82,280,579 - Beowulf

Wait... Dream Works is back. This was expected give how huge the second one was. The Shrek franchise was now 3-0 vs Pixar, and while Ratatouille might not have been the most marketable Pixar movies, the first two wins were over Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles. This 3-0 is one of the more impressive things on this list.


2008 - $223,808,164 - WALL-E (Pixar)
2008 - $215,434,591 - Kung Fu Panda (Dream Works)
2008 - $180,010,950 - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Dream Works)
2008 - $154,529,439 - Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (Blue Sky)
2008 - $114,053,579 - Bolt (Disney)

WAL-E vs The Panda was one of the more interesting Box Office wars we've had in these threads. WALL-E really had to bust hump to chase down the Panda, which was release a few weeks earlier in the summer and turned into a surprise big hit.


2009 - $293,004,164 - Up (Pixar)
2009 - $198,351,526 - Monsters Vs. Aliens (Dream Works)
2009 - $196,573,705 - Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Blue Sky)
2009 - $137,855,863 - A Christmas Carol
2009 - $124,870,275 - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Sony)
2009 - $104,400,899 - The Princess and the Frog (Disney)
2009 - $75,286,229 - Coraline

Pixar has their best legs since Nemo, and their best movie since then as well. Could be considered a phenom since on paper it didn't look like it would do the business that even WALL-E and Ratatouille did. Instead it hit a home run.

Pixar's dominance seemed to have run its course with Dreamworks taking 3 titles in four years from 2004-2007 behind the Shrek franchise and the launch of a new one in Madagascar. Instead, WALL-E and Up were the dawn of Pixar's longest stretch of titles.

[jdw]

2010-2014

2010 - $415,004,880 - Toy Story 3 (Pixar)
2010 - $251,513,985 - Despicable Me (Illumination)
2010 - $238,736,787 - Shrek Forever After (Dream Works)
2010 - $217,581,231 - How to Train Your Dragon (Dream Works)
2010 - $200,821,936 - Tangled (Disney)
2010 - $148,415,853 - Megamind (Dream Works)

The first clear and away animated phenom since Shrek 2 back in 2004. Toy Story romps to the title. But behind it is a massive year for animation.

Illumination makes a major debut with Despicable Me. This also might be a year when Dream Works was losing their minds shoving so much anination out.


2011 - $191,452,396 - Cars 2 (Pixar)
2011 - $165,249,063 - Kung Fu Panda 2 (Dream Works)
2011 - $149,260,504 - Puss in Boots (Dream Works)
2011 - $143,619,809 - Rio (Blue Sky)
2011 - $123,477,607 - Rango (Nickelodeon)
2011 - $108,085,305 - Hop (Illumination)
2011 - $99,967,670 - Gnomeo and Juliet
2011 - $77,591,831 - The Adventures of Tintin
2011 - $64,006,466 - Happy Feet Two

Sequel overload, including Puss in Boots being a spin off of Shrek. It's a bit sad that Rio, Rango and Hop ended up at #4 - #6.


2012 - $237,283,207 - Brave (Pixar)
2012 - $216,391,482 - Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (Dream Works)
2012 - $214,030,500 - Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (Illumination)
2012 - $189,422,889 - Wreck-It Ralph (Disney)
2012 - $161,321,843 - Ice Age: Continental Drift (Blue Sky / Fox)
2012 - $148,313,048 - Hotel Transylvania (Sony)
2012 - $103,412,758 - Rise of the Guardians (Dream Works)

The Lorax did surprise business in the pre-summer, putting up a number for others to chase. First Mad-3 then Brave chased it down.

Amazingly, Pixar won their 5th straight title despite their movies in 2011 & 2012 coming nowhere close to TS3 or even the legs of Up. The five-peat is perhaps less impressive given they won three of them with numbers in the $191M-$237M range. But those also weren't among their strongest movies, yet they still pulling in good numbers.


2013 - $400,738,009 - Frozen (Disney)
2013 - $368,061,265 - Despicable Me 2 (Illumination)
2013 - $268,492,764 - Monsters University (Pixar)
2013 - $187,168,425 - The Croods (Dream Works)
2013 - $119,793,567 - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
2013 - $107,518,682 - Epic (Blue Sky / Fox)
2013 - $90,288,712 - Planes (DisneyToon)
2013 - $83,028,128 - Turbo (DreamWorks)

Despicable Me 2 was a phenom, only to be topped by another phenom in Frozen. It's a big year when Monsters 2 does $268M and The Croods just shy of $200M, and they don't make a dent on the list.


2014 - $257,760,692 The LEGO Movie (Warner)
2014 - $222,527,828 Big Hero 6 (Disney)
2014 - $177,002,924 How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dream Works)
2014 - $131,538,435 Rio 2 (Blue Sky)
2014 - $111,506,430 Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Disney)
2014 - $83,350,911 Penguins of Madagascar (Dream Works)

No Pixar movie, Dragon and Rio do less their their original movies. Lego surprises people. Big Hero 6 continues the nice run that the modern Disney Animation has had with Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.

[jdw]

2015-2019

2015 - $356,461,711 Inside Out (Pixar)
2015 - $336,045,770 Minions (Illumination)
2015 - $177,397,510 Home (DreamWorks)
2015 - $169,559,753+ Hotel Transylvania 2 (Sony)
2015 - $162,994,032 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Nickelodeon)
2015 - $120,483,303+ The Good Dinosaur (Pixar)
2015 - $129,918,514+ The Peanuts Movie (Blue Sky / Fox)

The extremes of Pixar. After a year without a release, they get back to #1 for the first time since 2012 despite very tough competition from Minions. On the opposite side, they have probably their first bomb in The Good Dinosaur. It's roughly a $200M budgeted movie, and is scraping to get by $300M world wide at the box office. That's not a profitable ratio given the cut for theaters.

You have to feel for the Despicable Me franchise that has now been #2 behind a pair of phenoms (TS2 & Frozen) and a huge comeback Pixar movie (Inside Out).

[jdw]

Anyway...

The goal here was to pull together some reference info that's a little tough to pull out of Mojo or other sites without a spreadsheet.