Money, Money, Money: Pixar’s Most Profitable Films & the Future

Frozen is the highest grossing animated movie ever! Or at least until another feature film knocks it off its icy pedestal and takes the ice crown, the record will remain frozen until then.

Had enough bone chilling puns? Then let’s talk animated numbers with the Rotoscopers’ financial friend Tim Beyers. Tim covers financial news related to entertainment and technology. In his recent Motley Fool article, “Can You Guess the Most Profitable Disney Pixar Movies?” he combines his two specialities to rundown the numbers for one of the most technological advanced entertainment studios: Pixar.

Before you read Tim’s article, make a guess about which Pixar film generated the most profit.

Go on, take a minute.

Are you done?

Great!

Toy Story 3 took the number one spot and Up came in second place. Up continues to be a favorite for fans, especially with how it pushes the envelope for showing animation can handle serious stories. It’s appropriate that Toy Story 3 remains Pixar’s highest earning movie. This film launched one of the most successful and loved animated film franchises and continues to produce quality stories without an end in sight (Toy Story 4 is officially the horizon).

Cars 2 comes in last place, not a surprise given its less than spectacular story. What is interesting is that the merchandising didn’t pick up the slack. Brave comes in second to last place, despite the mega advertising campaign that fed into supporting the film and garnering the Academy Award.

What does Tim think will happen in the future?  His guess is as good as ours.

As well as Pixar has done historically, Disney Animation has been the bigger catalyst recently. ‘Frozen’ is the top-grossing animated film of all time. ‘Wreck-It-Ralph’ also did well and ‘Big Hero 6’ is earning raves along with profits. Adopting the look and feel of a Pixar film in well-developed November release is paying off well for the in-house animation team. In response, Pixar is adding new projects to its slate. ‘The Good Dinosaur’ opens next November, just five months after ‘Inside Out’ debuts.

Neither before nor after the Disney acquisition has Pixar released two feature films in a single year. What could that mean? History says to expect at least $650 million in worldwide ticket sales and $230 million in operating profit from each — a meaningful catalyst that’s almost certainly not accounted for in the current stock price.

Did you guess correctly about any of the films?  What do you think will happen with two Pixar films released next year?