Animation's World Grosses

Variety has listed the winners at the international box office for '06 (but not on its website), and animated features scored big. Factor in the animation/live-action hybrids, and animation scored even bigger (we could maybe consider Garfield, A Tale of Two Kitties in this category)...

Of the top ten theatrical films from January 2006 to December 2006, three were animated features (and #1 -- The Pirates of the Caribbean -- had lots of animation in it.)

The third highest grosser of the year was Ice Age: The Meltdown, which took in $647 million worldwide.

Cars had the fifth position, with $462 million...

And Over the Hedge raked in $334 million to take the ninth slot.

Beyond the Top Ten, animated features took #11 (Happy Feet, still in release but garnering $292 million in '06); Open Season was at #19 with a $180 million gross ($96 million overseas, $84 million here); Flushed Away appeared at #29 ($139 million); Monster House held down the 31st slot with $136 million; Hoodwinked landed at position #42 with $108 million, and Barnyard came in 45th with $105 million.

Chicken Little, an '05 release, would have tied with Nacho Libre if it had been counted for '06, since the $99 million it took in last year would have tied with with the Jack Black flick at #50.

As for the rest of the animated features in the top 100 for 2006, most were considered "failures:"

For instance, The Wild was #49 with a $99 million world gross and touted as a loser, and The Ant Bully was considered to be a non-starter for Tom Hanks' Playtone pictures, collecting $55 million for an 88th place finish.

The animated feature in the bottom half of the list to escape the "loser" label was the hand-drawn Curious George, probably because expectations were never sky-high, so its $70 million gross and 69th place finish was viewed as a qualified victory by NBC-Universal.

And the hybrid Garfield II? That ended up at #28, with $140 million world gross. (It tanked domestically, taking in $28,000,000, but achieved $112,000,000 overseas. Fox undoubtedly breathed easier after foreign gross was counted.)