What Is The Highest Grossing Animated Movie Of All Time? Let's Break It All Down

Animated films are making bank at the box office. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is seeing its own superhero sequel bump, far surpassing what "Into the Spider-Verse" made in its opening weekend. Meanwhile, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" is currently the highest-grossing movie of 2023 worldwide, having crossed the $1 billion mark and surpassed "Frozen" to become the second biggest animated movie ever ... or is it third?

As of the time of writing, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" has grossed $1.3 billion, while "Frozen II" sits at $1.45 billion. However, depending on who you ask, there is another film towering over those two as the highest-grossing animated movie ever internationally: the 2019 remake of "The Long King," which grossed about $1.65 billion at the global box office.

But wait, you might ask, isn't "The Lion King" live-action? Now, why would you even think that? Is it because Disney released that movie as part of their recent wave of live-action remakes, and replaced all the original cartoon designs (which bear a suspicious resemblance to the Japanese anime "Kimba the White Lion")? Well, if that's the case, then why was the movie nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes? The answer is complicated.

The common argument for "The Lion King" being animated is that it doesn't feature a single flesh-and-blood creature and only has one live-action shot (of a sunrise), while the argument against is all about the film looking photo-realistic rather than drawn. Even director Jon Favreau doesn't have a clear answer. He's agreed that the lack of cameras and captured performances means it's not live-action, but he's also declined to describe it as being animated "as far as what the expectations might be." According to the filmmaker, the fact that, ideally, audiences can't tell if an animal is real or not means it cannot be animated and that is the strength of the film.

The problem is, that same line of reasoning could apply to many of the scenes and creatures in something like "Avatar: The Way of Water," yet no one would argue that, say, the space whale Payakan is a live-action creature. What's more, Favreau claiming "The Lion King" is not animated because of its aesthetic is inherently wrong, and it takes away from the artistry of the movie and the work of the hundreds of artists involved in making it.

Really, to get an answer one must simply look at the movie itself, more specifically its credits. On IMDb, there are over 100 people whose work on the film is credited as "animator," including a sizable "animation department." Whether Favreau and Disney want to admit it or not, if your film has 100 credited animators and not a single living creature, it is animated.

So, congratulations "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," you're the third highest-grossing animated movie of all time! And even bigger congratulations to "The Lion King," the only animated movie to become hugely successful twice over with different animation styles.