Source: Warner Bros. | Paramount
When Paramount Skydance merges with the Warner Bros. movie studio, it gains a rich lineup of well-known franchises and an established reputation. What this powerhouse duo lacks is an animated film slate that could rival Hollywood giants such as: disney and universal.
The combined entity, which is still awaiting regulatory approval, has a number of highlights, including a DC superhero slate, a Minecraft sequel, another Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and a new entrant from the Lord of the Rings universe. Not to mention, Warner Bros. just tied the record for most Academy Awards won by a single studio earlier this month.
But what drives families to theaters is animated content aimed at kids, and neither studio has excelled in this area over the past decade.
Since 2016, Paramount and Warner Bros. have each released eight animated features on the big screen, with Paramount grossing $1.1 billion in worldwide ticket sales in that category and Warner Bros. $1.3 billion, according to ComScore data.
During this time, only one Paramount animated film has grossed more than $200 million worldwide, “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” in 2023, and only one Warner Bros. animated film has grossed more than $300 million worldwide, 2017’s “Lego Batman.”
For comparison, Disney has released 21 animated theatrical films over the past decade, raking in $14.1 billion from its films. Universal released 23 animated films, grossing $10.7 billion. And Sony released 16, bringing in $4.6 billion in ticket sales.
During this time, Disney had seven animated features that grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, and Universal released two animated features.
These numbers do not include live-action films with animated elements, such as Paramount’s Sonic series, Universal’s Gabby’s Dollhouse and Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, which studios consider live-action. It also doesn’t include animated films that were released on streaming during the pandemic and later released in theaters, such as Disney’s “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red.”
“When the moviegoing world is operating at or near peak efficiency, it’s almost always because of a diverse release schedule that includes one or more movies focused on kids and families,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “Animation mostly serves audiences directly while providing an anchor that studios and movie theater owners can rely on.”
Paramount and Warner Bros. together accounted for 27% of the domestic box office in 2025, just shy of Disney’s 28% market share.
“With the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., it is even more important that the combined resources of both companies be strategically directed towards developing their animated film portfolios,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Head of Marketplace Trends at ComScore.
“Releasing an animated film is critical for any film studio and requires a well-thought-out strategy, whether the project is an original production, an expansion of existing intellectual property, or a reboot of a beloved legacy franchise,” he added.
For the past two years, PG-rated family films have won box office revenue, outselling PG-13 and R-rated films, according to ComScore data.
“This recognition is important because these films are true four-quadrant releases that will attract a broader audience and deliver the highest grossing of nearly every genre in today’s film market,” Dergarabedian said.
What’s more, Robbins pointed out that animated films typically don’t get front-loaded at the box office, meaning they gain word of mouth and generate steady ticket sales during their run in theaters.
A typical Hollywood movie sees a 50% to 70% drop in sales from its opening weekend to its second weekend after the rush to theaters wanes. Animated features do not always produce the same cliffs.
For example, Disney’s “Hoppers” had a first week attrition of less than 37% and a second week attrition of less than 38%.
“While not all animated releases are as successful as others, they can be incredibly valuable due to the long tail of potential box office revenue, along with ancillary revenue through merchandising, down-window rentals and purchases, and other non-theatrical economic opportunities,” Robbins added.
Paramount and Warner Bros. have an advantage: They already have lucrative animated IPs. The integrated library includes SpongeBob SquarePants, The Smurfs, Paw Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and DC Super Heroes.
Disney and Universal have successfully struck a balance between new releases and sequels over the past decade. In addition to Frozen II, Toy Story 4, and Inside Head 2, Disney has introduced stories such as Coco, Zootopia, and Encanto. At Universal, new releases such as “The Thing,” “The Secret Life of Pets,” and “Migration” have set box office successes, while popular titles such as “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Bad Guys 2” have returned to box office success.
“It will be important for the new Paramount and WBD duo to not only expand these brands, but also develop new animated features to capture the maximum share of the box office revenue potential of this highly popular and competitive film category,” Dergarabedian said.
Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.
