‘Frozen 2’ Sets Record as Disney’s Sixth Movie to Hit $1 Billion in 2019

By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Frozen 2” is the sixth Disney movie this year to hit $1 billion globally, strengthening the studio’s sheer dominance over the box office.

Those ticket sales extend the benchmark set over summer, with five other films — “Avengers: Endgame,” “Aladdin,” “Toy Story 4,” “The Lion King” and “Captain Marvel” — joining the billion-dollar club in a single year. “” is Disney Animation’s third movie to cross $1 billion and now stands as the seventh-biggest animated film ever.

Earlier in December, Disney became the first studio in history to surpass $10 billion worldwide , and that’s before “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” arrives in theaters Dec. 20.

“Frozen 2” is already the eighth-highest grossing movie of the year. In North America, the fantasy follow-up has generated $367 million. The film crossed $600 million overseas, powered by especially strong showings in China ($111.5 million), Korea ($85.4 million), Japan ($67.3 million) and the United Kingdom ($49.6 million).

“Frozen 2” debuted to $130 million at the domestic box office ahead of Thanksgiving, setting a November record for an animated movie. It also become the first cartooned film outside of summer to hit triple digits in its inaugural weekend. The film continued its dominance through Turkey Day, cementing a new industry high-water mark with $123 million over the five-day holiday frame.

Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, “Frozen 2” continues the adventures of Princesses Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell), who reunite with Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and Olaf (Josh Gad) and embark on an adventure beyond Arendelle to find out why Elsa was born with magical powers.