With many studios focused on live action remakes of their animated back catalogue, 2025 saw a dearth of new big animated films.
This year's Smurfs movie (the fourth) continued the downward trend of the franchise at the global box office: $563M → $347M → $197M → $117M. And Elio was pretty much dead on arrival, hopefully it will find an audience when it moves to Disney+. It will be interesting to see what Zootopia 2 can do in the holidays window. The most buzzworthy animated film of the year was K-Pop Demonhunters which, out of nowhere, became the biggest ever film for Netflix and the sing along version had an amazing weekend at the theatrical box office over the summer.
2026 is looking much stronger for animated films with brand new offerings in the form of Goat, and Hoppers, along with sequels Super Mario Galaxy, Toy Story 5, PAW Patrol The Dino Movie, Minions 3 and a new Avatar The Last Airbender movie.
2027 though even trumps this impressive slate of animated films and with them all based on well proven IP, there’s very little risk in backing any of these movies with a robust licensing program. Any product category would likely see additional retail listings and increased sales by partnering with one of these blockbuster animated films.
Angry Birds 3
Based off of the hugely successful mobile gaming brand the first 2 films have driven over $500M at the global box office. The IP has huge brand awareness both from the games and the numerous animated series.
Ice Age: Boiling Point
The previous five films have generated over $3.2B at the global box office and the franchise will be celebrating 25 years in 2027 giving it huge cross generational appeal with kids and their parents. It's been over a decade since the last film so there is a lot of pent up anticipation.
Spiderman: Beyond the Spiderverse
Sony’s animated Spiderman films have more than been able to find their audience compared to the live action movies, generating $1.1B across the two previous films. Spiderman is one, if not the, most bankable superheroes at the box office and excitement for the concluding part of the trilogy is at fever pitch. The animated films have a distinct look and feel from other iterations and taps into older Spiderman fandoms as well as the core kids audience.
Shrek 5
Although there hasn’t been a Shrek movie in 15 years the franchise remains incredibly popular and anticipation is high, despite the initially poor reaction to the new-look Shrek and Fiona in the teaser images. Sonic originally faced the same reaction and after some tweaks went on to do incredibly well. The franchise has grossed $3B at the global box office so don’t underestimate the pull of the fairytale franchise both for the new film and the halo for the back catalogue.
Bluey the Movie
Bluey, although untested at the box office, has been a massive pre-school hit on TV and digital for many years. Like Dora, Peppa and PAW Patrol, Bluey has the potential to be one of a small collection of pre-school properties that sticks around for the long term. The brand has been hugely successful in licensing and the movie will likely drive a significant halo. Excitement for the theatrical debut is also high, but the question remains if kids that will have aged out of Bluey by 2027 will come to theaters to see the film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Mutant Mayhem
The first film in this latest iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles generated $181M at the box office but the overall franchise has been hugely successful for over 40 years and reinvented itself many times. And the current iteration also has a spin off animated TV series. Brand recognition for the Turtles is high and it has a long history of success in licensing.
Frozen 3
Finishing off the year is the behemoth that is Frozen, which has generated $2.7B from the previous two films. It is estimated the films have sold over $10B worth of licensed products and Anna and Elsa remain amongst the most popular and enduring Disney princesses.