2022 may have been a slow year for animated movies, but Dreamworks' Puss in Boots: The Last Wish seems unaware of that. The film broke the $300 million mark at the global box office, and it received an Oscar nomination to go in hand with that.
Although it was another of Universal Pictures' subsidiaries, Illumination, that ended up with the highest-grossing animated feature film last year thanks to Minions: The Rise of Gru, the Puss in Boots sequel put up respectable numbers, especially with it coming out at the same time Avatar: The Way of Water hit cinemas. Those two animated films were trailed by Disney's box office bust Lightyear and Warner Bros.' DC League of Super-Pets, both eclipsed by anime productions such as One Piece Film: Red and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
All that makes Puss in Boots: The Last Wish's commercial performance all the more impressive. Deadline reports the film was expected to break the $300 million milestone on Monday, after its fifth week in cinemas. With a total of $297.8M from the weekend, Puss in Boots 2 had already become the third highest-grossing animated movie of Hollywood's pandemic, only surpassed by the Minions: The Rise of Gru and Sing 2, two other Universal films.
With Minions and Puss in Boots doing so well, 2022 will be the first year since 2008 where Dreamworks' movies outgrossed every Disney or Pixar animated film released, as the latter’s productions have found a new home on Disney Plus. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish did well in Latin America. For example, the film dethroned Avatar: The Way of Water in Mexico and collected better-than-average box office results in most countries.
Running on a $90M budget, Puss in Boots:The Last Wish's profitability is beyond debate. However, it will also be the sole competitor at the Oscars for Best Animated Feature to find success at the movies due to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The Sea Beast, and Turning Red mostly being streaming releases, whereas Marcel the Shell With Shoes On doesn’t have the same reach. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish was amazing for critics and audiences for how it explores topics like death and aging from the eyes of Antonio Banderas' beloved feline.
For Shrek lovers, Puss in Boots will be even more welcome, as the film confirms Shrek 5 is on the way, though when that will happen is still a fairy tale mystery.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is currently available in theaters.
Source: Deadline