Who says toys are outdated? Disney and Pixar‘s “Toy Story 5,” which grapples with the reality that kids would rather play with tech than dolls, has surpassed $1 billion globally and now ranks as the highest-grossing release of the year.
The film has earned $448 million domestically and $573 million internationally for a global tally of $1.022 billion. It’s the third movie of the year to cross the coveted milestone, following “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($1.001 billion) and “Michael” ($1.001 billion). Meanwhile “The Odyssey,” which has earned $639.6 million after just two weekends of release, is primed to be the fourth film to notch $1 billion. And that’s before “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” a sequel to 2021’s juggernaut “No Way Home,” opens on July 31.
This year is tracking to produce the most billion-dollar blockbusters since the pandemic upended the box office in 2020. In 2019, nine movies — including “Avengers: Endgame,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Joker,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and “Captain Marvel” — earned over $1 billion. The following year, plagued with months of COVID-related theater closures, not a single film crossed the billion-dollar mark. There was just one in 2021 (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), three in 2022 (“Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World Dominion”), two in 2023 (“Barbie” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”), three in 2024 (“Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Moana 2”) and three in 2025 (“Zootopia 2,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and “Lilo & Stitch”).
