Inside Out 2 is now the most successful movie of 2024

Did you feel that? Just now—or at some other interchangeably lucrative moment during today, sue us, we’re not omniscient—Pixar’s Inside Out 2 officially became the most successful domestic box office movie of 2024. It’s a real underdog story: Who could have ever guessed that a plucky little family-friendly sequel to an absolutely massive hit, built entirely on relatable themes by one of the most successful film studios on the planet, could triumph over a movie about how a pretty boy learns to do war crimes from drinking magical water pooped out of a giant worm? The box office, she is a mystery.

Seriously, though: Inside Out 2 is making a lot of money, with THR reporting that the Pixar film will surpass Dune 2's $282.1 million domestic box office take some time during its Friday run, before barreling along to even greater heights as the weekend progresses. The fact that the Pixar movie is going to do so just 8 days after release points to how rare it’s become, in 2024, for a movie to actually connect with this many people: Even Kung Fu Panda 4, the closest animated equivalent, didn’t come close to matching those numbers during its entire theatrical run.

Admittedly, Inside Out 2—which we also note in what is, depressingly, passing, is really good, with some of the best depictions of things like peer pressure and panic attacks that we’ve ever seen in a kid-focused film—does have a little further to go at the international box office, where all of the “heavy” hitters of 2024 have performed much better than they have in the anemic domestic market. Dune 2, for instance, made 75 percent of its cash overseas, meaning it’s still the top film of 2024 in the overall rankings. But, like, give it a minute: Inside Out 2 isn’t doing too shabbily in foreign markets either—having scored what Deadline assures us is Brazil’s highest animated opening to date—and those numbers are only going to climb. The only question now is whether the movie can score 2024's first billion-dollar movie—the first since Barbie opened planet-wide nearly a year ago—or if we’ll have to wait for the potentially potent combo of Deadpool & Wolverine to seal that particular deal.