Disney's Next Animated Movie Will Have A Difficult Time Replicating Moana 2 & Inside Out 2's Box Office Success

Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 made 2024 an incredibly successful year for Disney, yet raised the bar impossibly high for the studio's next animated movie. Beginning with Inside Out 2's box office numbers, the film broke numerous records after its release in June. Inside Out 2 became the highest-grossing animated movie in history, surpassing 2019's The Lion King by earning a worldwide box office total of almost $1.7 billion and becoming one-half of Walt Disney Pictures' overly successful year.

Moana 2's box office total is not quite as high as Inside Out 2's, but the film proved more successful than first thought. The film has earned just shy of $1 billion worldwide and is expected to cross the coveted milestone before its theatrical run concludes. When it does so, 2024 will be solidified beyond all doubt as an immensely successful year for Disney. Although the studio will be pleased by this, Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 may have placed more pressure on another of Disney's upcoming movies that will struggle to emulate its predecessors' commercial success.

Disney's Next Animated Movie After Moana 2 Is Elio, An Original Sci-Fi Film

An Original Story Follows Two Successful Franchise Movies

Firstly, it is worth exploring what the next Disney animated movie is. In June 2025, the studio will release Elio, an original story with an intriguing sci-fi twist. The film is a Pixar Animation Studios effort and will tell the story of the titular Elio, a young child from Earth who is beamed up to something named the Communiverse by aliens. Elio finds himself becoming the intergalactic Ambassador of Earth as he navigates a crisis in the galaxy by forming bonds with the alien lifeforms around him.

Pixar's track record is excellent, and the premise for Elio is promising. Interestingly, though, Elio is one of the few Pixar films to have suffered some production issues. The film's original director, Adrian Molina, departed the project midway through production, with fellow Pixar regulars Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian being hired in Molina's place. The reasoning for this change is somewhat unclear, though reports indicate it was due to Molina's more emotional standpoint on the story.

According to Pixar head Pete Docter in an interview with The Wrap, the replacement directors allowed the script to better convey its main character in a way that would connect with general audiences. This is no more evident than in the two trailers released for Elio thus far, the first in June 2023 under Molina's direction, and the second in November 2024 under Shi and Sharafian. The film looks and feels immensely different, with the primary change being Elio's demeanor, personality, and overall reaction to being abducted by aliens.

Elio Shouldn't Have The Same Box Office Expectations As Disney's 2024 Animated Movies

Elio Will Have A Difficult Time Replicating The Success Of Moana 2 & Inside Out 2

Regardless of Elio's production changes, the film was always going to struggle to replicate the success of Disney's 2024 animated movies. As alluded to previously, Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 were overly successful at the box office, primarily due to the familiarity worldwide audiences already have with the franchises. Inside Out and Moana were almost as popular as their sequels, with Disney capitalizing on both brands in 2024. As an original film, Elio does not have this familiarity, meaning Disney should not expect the same box office numbers as Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 for the film.

The most recent Pixar original film that received a wide theatrical release was Elemental. This movie only earned a worldwide total of $496 million against a $200 million budget. Elio may have a smaller budget than this, but Elemental proved that original movies from Pixar or Disney should not expect to earn close to $1 billion. This is, admittedly, a sad reality given audiences' desire for original movies. Nonetheless, Elio will struggle to surpass and even equal the box office tallies of Moana 2 and Inside Out 2, setting the bar much lower for 2025 in comparison to 2024.

Disney Can Still Have A Huge Animated Movie Box Office Hit In 2025

Another Film Will Improve Disney's Box Office Prospects In 2025

Even if Elio does not replicate the success of Moana 2 or Inside Out 2, there is another Walt Disney Animation film coming in November 2025 that could still render the year a successful one for the studio: Zootopia 2. The story of Zootopia 2 has been anticipated since the first film was released back in 2016, with the success of the latter often going under the radar. Other Walt Disney Animated movies are mentioned more commonly than Zootopia, from Moana to the likes of Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph.

That said, Zootopia earned more money than all of these movies, earning just over $1 billion during its theatrical run. As such a sleeper hit, Zootopia's sequel is expected to be just as, if not more, successful. This could end 2025 on a massive note for Disney, regardless of whether Elio becomes a similar success or not. While Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 were outliers, Disney may have another successful year at the movies, despite the difficulty Elio will face emulating them.