‘Incredibles 2’ Is First Animated Film to Pass $600M at Domestic Box Office

Disney-Pixar's Incredibles 2 made history Sunday as the first animated film to earn more than $600 million at the domestic box office. Box Office Mojo estimates the Brad Bird-directed superhero movie pulled in roughly $3.16 million over the weekend, pushing Incredibles 2 to an estimated $601 million domestically.

After winning the biggest-ever opening night for an animated movie, the 14-years-later sequel to The Incredibles punched its way to a $182 million opening weekend before dashing past Pixar's own Finding Dory as the highest-grossing animated film domestically and the first animated film ever to pass $500 million domestically.

Its domestic earnings are comfortably ahead of past record holder Dory ($486m), DreamWorks' Shrek 2 ($441m) and Pixar's own Toy Story 3 ($415) and Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen ($400m), which remains the highest-grossing animated movie of all time worldwide with $1.72 billion.

Incredibles 2 isn't just the biggest-ever animated movie domestically — it's also the ninth highest domestic earner of all time and the fourth highest-grossing superhero movie, animated or otherwise, behind Marvel Studios' Black Panther ($700m), Avengers: Infinity War ($678m), and The Avengers ($623m).

That $601 million-and-growing puts Incredibles 2 ahead of the rest of the top ten biggest superhero money-makers domestically, a list that includes such heavyweights as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight ($534m), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($459m), The Dark Knight Rises ($448m), Wonder Woman ($412m), Iron Man 3 ($409m), and Captain America: Civil War ($408m).

Incredibles 2 is now Pixar's highest-grossing film of its 20-movie filmography and the 17th highest-grossing movie of all time overall with more than $1.16 billion earned worldwide. It's just one of three animated movies in the top 20 worldwide, behind Frozen — in 13th place with $1.29b — and just ahead of Minions, in 18th place with $1.15b.

Writer-director Brad Bird said in June he was not yet thinking about an Incredibles 3. The Iron Giant and Ratatouille filmmaker only returned for the sequel — his first to one of his original properties — because the filmmakers "had a story that we wanted to tell," Bird told press during a visit to Pixar Animation Studios in April.

"The thing is that many sequels are cash grabs. And there's a saying in the business that I can't stand where they go, 'You don't make another one, you're leaving money on the table,'" Bird said, adding "money on the table is not what makes me get up in the morning."

"So if it were a cash grab, we would not have taken 14 years. It makes no financial sense to wait this long," he explained, saying the movie happened because "we had a story that we wanted to tell."

Incredibles 2 is available to own digitally on October 23 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD November 6.