Disney Pixar’s Inside Out 2 hits US$1b at box office, first film of the year to do so

Inside Out 2 is the highest-grossing film of the year so far. Photo / Disney

The new Disney Pixar animated movie broke several records and became the first film to hit the US$1 billion mark since Barbie.

Inside Out 2 has pulled in more than US$1 billion ($1.64b) at the box office since it was released two and a half weeks ago.

The Pixar movie, the sequel to the studio’s film Inside Out (2015), reached the US$1b mark on June 30. It’s the fastest an animated film has reached that milestone, having done so in 19 days and breaking Frozen 2′s record.

It is the only movie released this year that has hit US$1b at the box office and the first movie to pass that threshold since Barbie.

Inside Out is a coming-of-age film that follows the emotions inside the head of a young girl called Riley. These emotions — including Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black) — work with one another to shape how she lives her life.

The sequel follows Riley two years later when she’s slightly older and preparing to enter high school. When she hits puberty, four new emotions enter Riley’s mind and clash with the old ones as they vie for control over Riley.

New emotions join older ones in the Inside Out sequel. Photo / Disney

Inside Out 2 is now the highest-grossing film of the year so far, surpassing Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, which starred Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson among others.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have reached this phenomenal milestone in record time, and it once again proves that global audiences will come out for a great movie,” said Tony Chambers, the head of theatrical distribution at Disney.

“The film’s remarkable success is a testament not only to the incredible creativity of the Pixar team, but an example of moviegoing at its very best.”

Inside Out was made on a budget of US$175m and pulled US$90m in its opening weekend. Closing at the box office, it eventually made US$858.8m worldwide.

The sequel’s budget is slightly higher at US$200m, although this spending was quickly recovered at the box office.

Disney Pixar’s Inside Out 2 is in theatres now.