Throughout 2021, movie theaters have lacked exclusive animated movies that would normally boost the box office. That's hurt this year as the US theatrical industry slowly recovers from the pandemic.
In 2019, Disney's "Frozen II" earned $477 million in the US and Pixar's "Toy Story 4" made $434 million. "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" made $160 million domestically. "The Lego Movie 2" grossed $105 million.
No animated movie this year has come close to that.
Movies like "The Boss Baby: Family Business" and "Paw Patrol: The Movie" have debuted simultaneously on streaming services like NBCUniversal's Peacock and ViacomCBS' Paramount+, respectively. Pixar's "Luca" premiered exclusively on Disney+ and "Raya and the Last Dragon" debuted simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ for an additional $30 fee.
So all eyes were on Disney's "Encanto" when it premiered only in theaters over the Thanksgiving holiday. After the success of Marvel's "Shang-Chi," which had an exclusive theatrical window, Disney announced its remaining 2021 releases would follow suit.
But the results have been underwhelming. It earned $40 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday and $27 million over that three-day weekend domestically. It's since grossed $60 million in the US and $120 million worldwide.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek said during a recent earnings call that he was watching the theatrical marketplace "very carefully" to see which demographics were showing up.
It's been young adults driving the biggest hits like "Shang-Chi" and "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," not so much parents and young children.
With a $50 million budget, "Encanto" isn't a total flop. But it didn't do much to move the needle either, especially when it hasn't immensely outpaced simultaneous releases.
Below are the five highest grossing animated movies at the US box office of 2021: