Elio has not been a hit for Pixar, but the new film is on the verge of doing something very surprising in the current theatrical landscape. Elio is among the lowest-grossing Pixar movies, and has to date only pulled in $138 million at the worldwide box office. This is a devastating total and, unfortunately, part of a recent pattern for Pixar.

While many hoped that Elio‘s terrible opening at the box office could rebound with strong legs, like Elemental, which was able to squeeze out $496 million during its theatrical run, this has not happened. Critics and audiences like Elio enough, but the film has failed to stand out in a crowded theatrical marketplace.

Strangely, despite everything that went wrong with Elio, the film is on the verge of setting an unexpected record for 2025. While this will occur in the coming days, it is not a record that Elio will be able to hold by the end of the year, but it does reveal some curious details about animation, theatrical releases, and more.

Elio Will Soon Become Hollywood’s Biggest Animated Movie At The 2025 Box Office

The Film Will Soon Overtake DreamWorks’ Dog Man

Shockingly, Elio will soon become the biggest Hollywood animated feature at the 2025 box office. Despite being a mᴀssive disappointment for the studio, the compeтιтion in this sphere has been surprisingly lax. Elio is currently only behind the box office of Dog Man, a DreamWorks Animation film that was released in January.

Dog Man was a much smaller-scale film. The movie was produced for $40 million, and is currently the 16th highest-grossing movie of 2025. Its $145.6 million box office take was strong for the film, and made Dog Man the highest-grossing Hollywood animated film of 2025 with such a small share of the global box office.

All of this is a strange reflection on the theatrical makeup of 2025. Last year, four of the top ten highest-grossing movies, including Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, were animated features, or five if Mufasa: The Lion King is included. In 2025, none of this year’s biggest films have yet come from Hollywood animation.

Granted, Ne Zha II has been the highest-grossing release at the worldwide box office, and has even taken the record of the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Most of that film’s performance has come directly from China, with a US release planned for later this year.

Some of this may be concerning for Western animated features in general. While the Chinese box office is another beast entirely, Hollywood animated films have tended to be among some of the biggest of each calendar year. By this time last year, Despicable Me 4, Inside Out 2, and Kung Fu Panda 4 had already earned much more.

Instead, 2025 has seen live-action remakes become the bigger earners among families. Lilo & Sтιтch, an adaptation of the animated film, is the first Hollywood movie to gross over $1 billion this year, and has been a huge hit for Disney. In addition, the How to Train Your Dragon remake also performed strongly, earning more than $600 million.

Worryingly, this may reflect a trend. While animated features have been one of the most dependable properties in theatrical history, audience habits have continued to change over the years. With movies like A Minecraft Movie performing well, there is reason to worry that animated features may be becoming less of a theatrical draw.

Elio Is Destined To Lose Its Box Office тιтle

It Could Be Sooner Than Later Too

What seems more likely is simply that the first half of 2025 featured a less-appealing selection of theatrical animated films than most, which could see Elio losing its crown to another film later this year. It has not faced much animated compeтιтion in cinemas, with only films like Smurfs available as direct counterprogramming.

Streaming animated movies, meanwhile, have done quite well this year. KPop Demon Hunters has become Netflix’s biggest animated hit, while Predator: Killer of Killers was a strong success for Hulu. Still, even with this in mind, there are several more animated movies in 2025, and at least one of them is bound to be huge.

The Bad Guys 2 will release this week and has the potential to take the top-grossing animated crown from Elio in the coming weeks. The first film made $250 million, and sequels have proven to be a much more dependable commodity in the theatrical landscape, especially among family films.

Whether or not The Bad Guys 2 overtakes Elio, which is very likely, the highest-grossing Hollywood animated movie of 2025 will be released in November. The trailer for Zootopia 2 promises a fun return to this colorful and exciting world, and the film’s success in cinemas is inevitable following the first film’s $1 billion earnings.

Zootopia 2 and The Bad Guys 2 have some surprising similarities, with both films featuring colorful animals confronting crime in urban settings. These similarities could hamper Zootopia 2‘s earnings later this year, but even factoring in the possibility of a mᴀssive underperformance, the new Disney film will surely earn much more than $250 million.

It is strange that Elio, one of Pixar’s biggest disappointments yet, will soon become the highest-grossing animated movie of the year, but this appears to mostly be a reflection on a weaker slate of animated releases in 2025. Fortunately, the box office will surely turn around later, with Zootopia 2 taking this тιтle by the end of the year.