The Biggest Animated Movies That Didn't Come From Disney Or Universal

In recent years, the world of North American animation has gotten even smaller. Thanks to Disney's acquisition of the 20th Century Fox animation outfit Blue Sky Studios and Universal purchasing DreamWorks Animation, four of the biggest producers of animated fare in North America now reside under two roofs. The dominance of Disney and Universal in this field is best reflected by the fact that the top 20 highest-grossing animated movies domestically now all belong to just two different movie studios. To be an animated movie that grosses $260+ million domestically is to also inherently be a product of one of two corporations. This is a daunting fact on a number of levels, particularly if you're at one of the many animation studios that doesn't belong to either Disney or Universal.

But that doesn't mean non-Disney/Universal animated titles have totally failed to leave a financial impact on the domestic box office. In fact, in recent years, titles from studios like Sony Pictures Animation and Warner Bros. have begun to diversify who can and cannot become successful in this domain. None of them may have toppled the Mouse House yet, but these animated titles prove that Disney and Universal don't have a stranglehold on financially successful animated cinema.

The Hotel Transylvania movies are widely loved by kids and adults alike, managing to gross over $1.3 billion worldwide. The wacky stories of Dracula (Adam Sandler) running a hotel exclusively for monsters, though, did not get off the ground so smoothly. First announced in 2006, Hotel Transylvania went through several directors and numerous release date delays as artists struggled to attach a cohesive story to the concept of a monster hotel. Eventually, a version of the film helmed by Genndy Tartakovsky made its way to movie theaters in September 2012. Combining that troubled production history with the erratic box office track record of Sony Pictures Animation, it was anyone's guess if the original Hotel Transylvania would actually take off at the box office.

Despite all those obstacles, audiences turned out in droves for Hotel Transylvania. Scoring the then-biggest opening weekend ever for a September release, Hotel Transylvania got off to a strong start and eventually made its way to $148.4 million domestically. There's a reason Sony Pictures Animation stuck with this project for all those years; the concept of Dracula, Frankenstein and other famous monsters inhabiting comically everyday personas is quite clever. The presence of Adam Sandler also didn't hurt considering what a draw he is for moviegoers. With all these factors in place, Hotel Transylvania went from a troubled project to a box office hit that birthed a new franchise.

In 2009, the Ice Age franchise shifted from its usual March home to July for its third installment, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was a risky move that paid off, with Dawn of the Dinosaurs reaching a domestic box office high even in the competitive summer season. It was also a release strategy later mirrored by the Hotel Transylvania franchise with its own third installment, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.

Like the initial Ice Age entries, the first two Hotel Transylvania movies launched outside of summer, though Dracula and his pals had always called September home. But Summer Vacation debuted in theaters in mid-July. The new release approach resulted in a great $167.5 million domestic gross, only slightly below its predecessor. Hotel Transylvania 3 benefited from kids being able to see the movie during the week and further got its pop culture awareness goosed by the strong social media presence of its various cast members. It didn't hurt, too, that the first two Hotel Transylvania movies were well-liked by audiences. Much like the third Ice Age movie, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation took its franchise to summertime territory with strong results.

Despite getting off to a such a strong start with The LEGO Movie in 2014, the LEGO movie franchise would eventually peter out with the 2019 box office dud The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. Even prior to that, warning signs over the longevity over this series appeared through the significantly disappointing box office of The LEGO Ninjago Movie. But before those two, there was a moment where it did appear that this franchise could sustain a  string of spin-offs and follow-ups thanks to the robust box office success of The LEGO Batman Movie.

Though not as big as The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie still fared successfully in its domestic box office run, grossing $175.7 million, more than double its $80 million budget. It also came in ahead of all but two other animated movies in 2017. The LEGO Batman Movie's superpower at the box office was combining residual goodwill from The LEGO Movie with the general public's love for all things Batman. All but one of Batman's theatrical movies since 1989 have grossed over $160 million domestically. That kind of box office track record meant The LEGO Batman Movie could tap into the popularity of not one but two lucrative brand names. Even if subsequent LEGO movies showed that this wasn't a franchise built to last, The LEGO Batman Movie gave the series one last burst of box office glory.

The 21st century has had no shortage of Spider-Man movies. This webcrawler has headlined enough feature films that it inspired a memorable gag on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. But the franchise had never truly delivered something like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse before. For one thing, Miles Morales, rather than Peter Parker, was the kid behind the Spider-Man mask this go-around. For another, this would be the first fully-animated theatrically-released Spider-Man movie in history.

These qualities helped to ensure that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse would find box office success in the holiday season of 2018. Despite facing an onslaught of competition from other higher-budgeted family movies like Bumblebee and Mary Poppins Returns, Into the Spider-Verse scored a massive $190.2 million domestic haul. This was due to the film's box office legs, which weren't just impressive by the standards of kids' movies. Scott Mendelson of Forbes observed that Into The Spider-Verse "is the leggiest comic book superhero movie of any kind in 29 years." Into the Spider-Verse more than doubled its $90 million budget and became by far the highest-grossing movie in history for Sony Pictures Animation. There had been plenty of Spider-Man before Into the Spider-Verse, but these box office achievements were just one way that this version of Spidey was able to stand on his own two feet.

"A movie based on LEGOs? Who would see that?" was often the default pre-release response to the prospect of a movie based on those little Danish-made bricks. Given the dismal track record of movies based on toys, a sense of dubiousness about The LEGO Movie was understandable. Clearly, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller had their work cut out for them when it came to transforming The LEGO Movie from an unappealing prospect into a box office sensation. But just as they did on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street, Lord & Miller wrung a box office hit out of unexpected source material with The LEGO Movie.

The LEGO Movie wasn't just a box office hit, it was historic. By grossing over $200 million (topping off at $257 million domestically), it was the first time in history that a cartoon not currently owned by Disney or Universal cracked that box office threshold, giving the biggest Pixar and Illumination titles a run for their money. The film's success was, like all of the biggest animated films, due to its appeal stretching far beyond just children and their parents. Adults nostalgic for LEGOs or even just moviegoers looking for sharp comedy also turned out for The LEGO Movie. What was once thought to be a pointless marketing exercise turned into one of the biggest animated films in history.