Highest-grossing film of 2024 is a kids' movie with no star, earned $1.7B; beat Deadpool & Wolverine, Dune 2, Venom 3

The highest-grossing film of 2024 earned $1.698 billion worldwide, and it was not even live-action or featured a superstar.

Updated on: Dec 27, 2024, 22:55:17 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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As 2024 draws to a close, the movie industry can breathe a sigh of relief. This year saw a resurgence of theatres worldwide, as more films succeeded at the box office than in previous years. The overall box office tickets and footfalls saw an upswing in most major markets, and as many as seven films earned more than half a billion dollars worldwide. One of these went on to gross $1.7 billion worldwide, entering the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time, and it is not one of the usual suspects.

Highest grossing film of 2024

At the beginning of year, it was speculated that a film like Joker: Folie à Deux, The Gladiator 2, Dune Part Two, or Deadpool & Wolverine would be the top-grosser of the year. Each was a legacy sequel of a blockbuster and was heavily anticipated. Except Joker 2, each of these films did succeed. Deadpool & Wolverine even crossed a billion dollars, becoming the highest-grossing live-action film of the year. And yet, it was beaten by an animated feature from Pixar - Inside Out 2. Kelsey Mann's directorial debut was a smash hit, raking $1.698 billion globally. It is not just the highest-grossing film of 2024 but also the highest-grossing animated film ever, breaking The Lion King's record. The film boasts of a modest voice cast, featuring Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Paul Walter Hauser.

The superheroes and intergalactic sagas that Inside Out 2 beat

Marvel-Sony produced their strongest films this year in Deadpool & Wolverine and Venom: The Last Dance. Deadpool 3 was a blockbuster, earning $1.338 billion worldwide, while Venom 3 settled for $475 million. In between were Chinese hit, YOLO ($480 million), monsterverse's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($571 million), The Wizard of Oz spinoff Wicked ($585 million), and Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two ($714 million). Three other animated feature films also made the list - Kung Fu Panda 4 ($547 million), Moana 2 ($821 million and counting), and Despicable Me 4 ($969 million).

Incidentally, all the year's top-ten highest-grossing films were sequels, remakes, or spinoffs of some older titles. It was truly a year of the franchises. The highest-grossing Indian film of the year - Pushpa 2: The Rule - did not make the top 10 or even the top 20. The Alu Arjun-starrer has grossed just over $200 million so far, meaning it sits at the 21st spot, just behind Joker: Folie à Deux ($206 million) and The Garfield Movie ($234 million).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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