Top 45 Disney Animated Classic Grossings

[yamiiguy]

Does anybody know a list from the top grossing classic to the lowest?

[Gwildor]

It's seems that we'll never know...

[TheSequelOfDisney]

I know that my beloved "Treasure Planet" is last

[yamiiguy]

It's seems that we'll never know...

well these are them not adjusted for inflation but inflation-adjusted would be better:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - $184,925,000
Pinocchio - $84,254,000
Fantasia - $?
Dumbo - $?
Bambi - $102,797,000
Saludos Amigos - $?
The Three Caballeros - $?
Make Mine Music - $?
Fun and Fancy Free - $?
Melody Time - $?
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - $?
Cinderella - $85,000,000
Alice in Wonderland - $?
Peter Pan - $87,400,000
Lady and the Tramp - $93,600,000
Sleeping Beauty - $51,600,000
101 Dalmations - $144,880,000
The Sword in the Stone - $?
The Jungle Book - $141,843,000
The Aristocats - $55,675,000
Robin Hood - $?
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - $?
The Rescuers - $48,776,000
The Fox and the Hound - $43,899,000
The Black Cauldron - $?
The Great Mouse Detective - $?
Oliver & Company - $53,279,000
The Little Mermaid - $111,500,000
The Rescuers Down Under - $?
Beauty and the Beast - $171,301,000
Aladdin - $217,350,219
The Lion King - $328,538,000
Pocahontas - $141,579,000
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - $100,118,000
Hercules - $99,046,000
Mulan - $120,570,000
Tarzan - $171,085,000
Fantasia 2000 - $76,400,000
The Emperor's New Groove - $89,303,000
Atlantis: The Lost Empire - $84,053,000
Lilo & Stitch - $145,772,000
Treasure Planet - $38,121,000
Brother Bear - $85,329,000
Home on the Range - $50,026,353
Chicken Little - $135,381,507

[myr_heille]

A quick search on Google gave me this:
All time Box Office Adjuster for Inflation
It says :
Snow White $717,220,000 adjusted ( )
101 Dalmatians $657,455,500 adjusted
Fantasia $546,426,100
TLK $508,185,200
Jungle Book $484,813,800
Sleeping Beauty $478,208,400
Pinocchio $443,513,900
Bambi $419,227,900
Lady and the Tramp $366,735,500
Aladdin $345,070,600

These are all in the top-100 best-selling movies. There's also a tool for calculating inflation, I'll check it out! You just need to divide the total by the ticket price of the year the movie went out, and multiply by the actual ticket price. Of course this is very approximative (especially because of the re-releases) and actual numbers like the ones above are more precise.

[Gwildor]

yamiiguy, that list is based only on the box office, right?

It can't be that numbers that were considered for the PE line:

Pinocchio, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (for example) are PEs but in that list, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan and even Emperor's New Groove have bigger profits...

[myr_heille]

yamiiguy, that list is based only on the box office, right?

It can't be that numbers that were considered for the PE line:

Pinocchio, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (for example) are PEs but in that list, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan and even Emperor's New Groove have bigger profits...

These numbers are not adjusted for inflation; Emperor's New Groove's tickets costed a lot more than Pinocchio's.

[goofystitch]

I just signed up for a free subscription to box office mojo and for 3 days I am a premier member and am able to adjust for inflation, so here is all of the info I was able to get. All amounts are adjusted for inflation and encompass every domestic theatrical release. I don't include films for which they have no box office figures.

Snow White $717,220,000
Pinocchio $443,513,900
Fantasia $546,426,100
Bambi $419,227,900
Cinderella (only info for 1981 and 1987) $136,839,300 (my estimated total $220 million)
Peter Pan $300,202,800
Lady and the Tramp $366,735,500
Sleeping Beauty $478,208,400
101 Dalmatians $657,455,500
The Sword in the Stone (1963 + 1983 only) $67,979,743
The Jungle Book $484,813,800
The Aristocats (1980 and 1987 only) $73,400,200 ($151,672,559 for all releases)
The Rescuers $163,058,000
The Fox and the Hound $132,153,700
The Black Cauldron $39,459,000
The Great Mouse Detective $66,006,800
The Little Mermaid $174,287,000
The Rescuers Down Under $43,522,900
Beauty and the Beast $258,939,400
Aladdin $345,070,600
The Lion King $508,185,200
Pocahontas $214,159,700
The Hunchback of Notre Dame $149,075,500
Hercules $142,082,300
Mulan $169,228,400
Tarzan $221,571,100
Fantasia 2000 (only includes Imax release) $73,773,200 ($92,993,856 with standard run)
The Emperor's New Groove $105,923,300
Atlantis: The Lost Empire $97,719,400
Lilo & Stitch $165,116,500
Treasure Planet $42,952,200
Brother Bear $93,001,700
Home on the Range $53,011,300
Chicken Little $139,075,100

Thanks to yamiiguy, we know more information about some of these films. Cinderella grossed $85,000,000 throughout it's releases. It has been released 5 times in 1950, 1965, 1973, 1981, and 1987. Combined gross for '81 and '87 was $62,141,149. So between 1950 and 1973 it earned $22,858,851. According to "The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin, it earned a little over $4,000,000 in 1950. So that leaves $18,858,851 for 65-73. In 1950, standard movie prices were $0.53, so for today's prices, it would have earned around $49,660,377 it's first release. So without 1965 and 1973, it earned $186,499,677. I'm guessing that with those two years added, it would be more around $220 million in total gross.

We also know that the Aristocats grossed $55,675,000 during all of it's releases. The two 80's re-issues account for $35,452,658 of that, leaving $20,222,342 for its 1970 release, which would be $78,272,359 today. So in total, The Aristocats earned $151,672,559.

I'm assuming that the gross shown for Fantasia 2000 by yamiiguy includes the imax screenings, so $76,400,000-$60,655,420=$15,744,580 for it's standard domestic run. That number adjusted for inflation would be $19,220,656. So with inflation, Fantasia 2000 grossed $92,993,856

So, to sum it up, here is a list of the top 15 highest grossing Disney animated films by today's standards. (Note that "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has an advantage due to the large number of theatrical releases)
1.)Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs $717,220,000
2.)101 Dalmatians $657,455,500
3.)Fantasia $546,426,100
4.)The Lion King $508,185,200
5.)The Jungle Book $484,813,800
6.)Sleeping Beauty $478,208,400
7.)Pinocchio $443,513,900
8.)Bambi $419,227,900
9.)Lady and the Tramp $366,735,500
10.)Aladdin $345,070,600
11.)Peter Pan $300,202,800
12.)Beauty and the Beast $258,939,400
13.)Tarzan $221,571,100
14.)Pocahontas $214,159,700
15.)The Little Mermaid $174,287,000

The Platinum Edition line is based on home video sales, but box office gross is also a pretty good indicator. As you can see, the only Platinum title not on the list Cinderella. I'm estimating that it should be around number 13, but since that is an estimated number, I have not included it.

Just for fun, let's look at the bottom 5. This doesn't include the package features from the war because nobody knows those figures, but I think one or two of them might have been on this list.
1.)The Black Cauldron $39,459,000
2.)Treasure Planet $42,952,200
3.)The Rescuers Down Under $43,522,900
4.)Home on the Range $53,011,300
5.)The Great Mouse Detective $66,006,800

[castleinthesky]

One thing adjusted inflation dosn't account for is the amount of theaters during the year a film came out. In this case, Treasure Planet would truly be the worst all time and Snow White would even have a larger lead as number one.

[Disneykid]

Wow, excellent compilation, goofystitch! It's really fascinating to take a look at that through today's standards. It proves just how many more people went to the movies back then (The Lion King made 500 million and wasn't even #1 for the year whereas most #1 movies nowadays barely push 400). I'm shocked, though, at how little Cinderella made in its initial run when adjusted for inflation. I was under the impression that the film was a smash hit, but an adjusted gross of about 50 million is extremely weak (The Great Mouse Detective made more than that). Still, it's ironic how the two lowest-grossing Platinums (Cinderella and The Little Mermaid) are the two best-selling ones (well, if you exclude The Lion King).

[myr_heille]

You must not forget also that earlier movies were made in a time where (I guess) there were just less movies in general. Now Disney has to compete against lots and lots of other movies - that may be why the earlier movies have bigger box-office numbers. Plus, in the beginning Disney movies were all the rage since it invented the animated feature gernre; now everybody's doing it.

[goofystitch]

Disneykid wrote:

I'm shocked, though, at how little Cinderella made in its initial run when adjusted for inflation. I was under the impression that the film was a smash hit, but an adjusted gross of about 50 million is extremely weak (The Great Mouse Detective made more than that).

I felt the same way at first, but then I thought about what was going on in 1950. The U.S. had just come out of a major war and as I recently learned in microeconomics, the economy is low after every war. So it makes sense that $4 million would have been pretty good that year, even enough to save the future of Disney animation. Leonard Maltin said it was one of the top grossing films of 1950. And the film went on the greater success in reissues. As I said before, it probably has grossed around $220 million with inflation (two release years numbers are missing) and that would put it at number 13. That number seems low to me because Cinderella is arguabley one of the more popular of the Disney princesses, but these numbers also don't include home video sales, throughout which Cinderella has always been a top sellar. Box office gross doesn't always correlate with the public's love for the film and I think Cinderella proves that. It's number 8 on the Ultimate Disney Top Animated Films list.

[goofystitch]

I became inspired to check how the live action Disney films have done. Understandably, figures for many Walt-era films could not be found. There are way too many to post them all, so I will just post the list of the top 20 and the bottom 5. If you would like info on any individual titles, PM me and I will sent it to you. Strangely, I had a hard time tracking down numbers for "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "Pete's Dragon," and the original Hayley Mills "The Parent Trap." If anybody has those numbers, please let me know. All numbers are adjusted for inflation to meet 2006 prices and this only includes domestic run, which is why "Dead Man's Chest" isn't number 1.

Top 20
1.) Mary Poppins $514,436,400
2.) POTC: Dead Man’s Chest $423,315,812
3.) Swiss Family Robinson $354,056,600
4.) POTC: The Curse of the Black Pearl $333,269,700
5.) The Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, Witch, Wardrobe $297,110,700
6.) Who Framed Roger Rabbit? $250,476,100
7.) The Love Bug $247,547,300
8.) The Santa Clause $227,057,600
9.) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids $216,666,300
10.) 101 Dalmatians (Live Action) $200,347,000
11.) National Treasure $182,522,600
12.) The Santa Clause 2 $157,447,800
13.) Remember the Titans $141,049,900
14.) Herbie Rides Again $134,517,000
15.) Flubber $132,513,400
16.) Inspector Gadget $126,163,900
17.) The Princess Diaries $125,840,400
18.) Popeye $121,872,000
19.) Freaky Friday (2003) $120,276,300
20.) The Apple Dumpling Gang $118,289,100

Bottom 5
1.) Newsies $4,470,400
2.) Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale $5,261,200
3.) Meet the Deedles $6,111,700
4.) Running Brave $6,266,700
6.) Trenchcoat $8,991,200

Are any of you surprised by any of this? I'm shocked that Newsies is the lowest grossing Disney film of all time. I love that movie and I always heard it did bad, but I didn't think it did THAT bad!