Report: How ‘Inside Out 2' Became The Most Profitable Film Of 2024

Forbes

02-05-2025

Scene from "Inside Out 2."
Disney-Pixar's Inside Out 2 was not only the highest-grossing film of 2024, it also netted the most. How much did the animated blockbuster earn in profits?
Inside Out 2, of course, is the sequel to 2016's Inside Out, which earned a Best Animated Feature Oscar. The first film imagines how a young girl named Riley (voice of Kaitlyn Dias) deals with five core emotions living in her brain — dubbed her 'Headquarters' — as her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco.
The emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader) — are in turn projected through a console in Riley's Headquarters.
In Inside Out 2, Riley (Kensington Tallman) turns 13 and when puberty arrives and her way of thinking literally changes overnight destruction and reconstruction of her Headquarters, which makes room for new emotions including Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and a name for boredom—Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos).
Suddenly, Riley's core emotions of Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust (Liza Lapira) and Fear (Tony Hale) are in danger of being suppressed.
In total, Deadline reported on Thursday that Inside Out 2 netted Disney a profit of $650 million. But how did it get there?
Scene from "Inside Out 2."
Released in theaters on June 14, 2024, Inside Out 2 went on to make $653 million internationally and more than $1.045 billion internationally for a worldwide box office gross of $1.698.8 billion.
Of course, Inside Out 2's financials don't begin and end with the amount the film made in theaters since various expenses and additional revenue streams help determine the film's eventual bottom line.
All of the film's revenues and expenses were taken into account by Deadline in the trade publication's annual series of articles called the 'Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament,' which examines the 10 most profitable films of 2024.
Since theaters are partners with studios in the movie business, a percentage of money earned from ticket sales goes to theater owners and the studio's actual revenues will be lower than the gross.
As such, Deadline reported that Inside Out 2 earned $770 million in theatrical revenues, as well as $170 million in the home entertainment market and $210 million from television and streaming services. Once all the numbers were counted, Inside Out 2, Deadline reported, had earned $1.150 billion in total revenues.
As for expenses, the trade publication reported that Inside Out 2 had a $200 million production cost and spent $170 million on prints and advertising. Additionally, Deadline noted, the studio paid out $45 million in residuals and other distribution expenses, $40 million in interest and overhead and $45 million in profit participation deals. All figures combined, Inside Out 2 had $500 million in combined expenses.
After Deadline subtracted Inside Out 2's $500 million in expenses from the $1.150 billion in revenues, the trade publication arrived at the $650 million net profit figure.
For viewers who missed Inside Out 2 in theaters or want to see it again, the film is streaming on Disney+.