Finding Dory took a cue from its titular blue tang and just kept swimming at the box office — all the way up to the top spot for an animated movie ever in the U.S. According to Box Office Mojo, Dory has now earned a whopping $445.5 million at the domestic box office since its bow back in mid-June, officially snatching away the domestic box office animation crown from 2004’s Shrek 2 ($441.22 million). That figure also makes it the highest-earning movie of 2016 so far, edging out Captain America: Civil War‘s sum of $406.5 million.
Dory, the sequel to Pixar’s Oscar-winning 2003 hit Finding Nemo, has been making waves since its debut, when it swam away with some significant records on its opening weekend. With a huge haul of $135 million, it not only became Pixar’s biggest opener ever (besting previous champ Toy Story 3‘s bow of $110 million in 2010), but also took down longtime animated opener champ Shrek the Third, which earned $121.6 million during its domestic debut weekend back in 2007.
The film’s new achievement is no doubt cause for celebration for the folks at Pixar, who have big plans for more sequels to their previous animated classics coming down the pike over the next few years. Cars 3 is due in theaters in 2017, with Toy Story 4 (2018) and the long-awaited The Incredibles 2 (2019) due out after that. Pixar has recently pledged to make more original features after those — including one, Coco, also slated for release in 2017 — though today’s news about Dory‘s success may make the studio rethink that strategy if it can continue to cash in on existing beloved (and lucrative) properties. We just hope those hypothetical future releases are more like Toy Story 3 and less like Cars 2.
(Via Box Office Mojo, h/t Business Insider)
