The holidays mean family time — and that’s extended to the box office.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King were the top two films over Christmas in a neck-and-neck finish, earning $59.8 million and $63.9 million, respectively, over the five-day holiday weekend. Moana 2 and Wicked, released around Thanksgiving, also continue to draw many moviegoers and break all kinds of records.
Looking at the overall trend for 2024, audiences have made it clear that they’ll show up in theaters for PG fare. Inside Out 2, the highly anticipated sequel that gave us all the feels when it came out in June, is the top film for the year, ahead of the very un-PG superhero comedy Deadpool & Wolverine, Box Office Mojo data shows. In third place is Despicable Me 4, followed by Moana 2 (No. 4) and Wicked (No. 6). Kung Fu Panda 4 also cracked the top 10 (No. 8).
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The Wild Robot, The Garfield Movie and IF are all further down the list but nevertheless in the 25 top-grossing films this year. Each pulled in over $100 million domestically. Harold and the Purple Crayon was a standout clunker among the many box office successes.
Hollywood has taken notice of parents tapping their credit cards for tickets to kid-friendly films — with 2025 already promising a stellar lineup.
Dog Man, Snow White and How to Train Your Dragon are among the family-friendly films that will hit the big screen in 2025. (Dreamworks, The Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures)
Dog Man
In theaters Jan. 31, 2025
This insanely popular graphic novel series from Dav Pilkey, who also gave us Captain Underpants, is finally hitting the big screen. It’s about a half-dog, half-man who fights crime — like the villain Petey the Cat (voiced by Pete Davidson) — although he is frequently distracted by squirrels, balls and his over-the-top affection for the police chief. The Dog Man series has more than 60 million books in print — with translations in 47 languages — making it one of the bestselling graphic novel series of all time, and, probably, a big box office draw.
Paddington in Peru
In theaters Feb. 14, 2025
The release date of the third film in the series — which sees the lovable British bear travel to visit family in Peru — was moved from 2024 to 2025 to avoid the whole Moana 2-Sonic 3-Mufasa box office bonanza in the U.S. It was released in the U.K. in November and is already a hit there.
Snow White
In theaters March 21, 2025
There’s been some drama around this live-action adaptation of the 1937 Disney cartoon — like the CGI dwarfs — that stars Rachel Zegler in the title role and Gal Gadot as the evil queen, but we don’t anticipate that it will keep people from going to the theater to see it. Snow White is a classic, even in a modern format.
A Minecraft Movie
In theaters April 4, 2025
Just as most elementary school kids have read a Dav Pilkey book at this point, Minecraft, the video game, has a massive audience of over 204 million monthly active players, according to data from Activeplayer.io. No doubt a good portion of them — who build worlds online — will check out the adventure comedy film about the game, which stars Jack Black, Emma Myers and Jason Momoa.
Lilo & Stitch
In theaters May 23, 2025
The animated franchise — about a little girl, Lilo, her sister, Nani, and the extraterrestrial blue pal they adopt, named Stitch — has been successful for Disney for two decades. This is the first live action adaptation, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On), and is brought to life with CGI. Zach Galifianakis and Hannah Waddingham are among those with voice roles.
How to Train Your Dragon
Toothless the Night Fury dragon and Mason Thames in the upcoming How to Train Your Dragon. (© DreamWorks / © Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection)
In theaters June 13, 2025
The animated trilogy — beginning with 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon — also gets a live action adaptation. It follows a young misfit Viking teen named Hiccup, who aspires to hunt dragons, and tells the story of how he unexpectedly befriends an injured dragon he names Toothless.
Elio
In theaters June 13, 2025
Pixar’s Elio is about a young space fanatic with a big imagination and huge alien obsession who gets beamed up to space and is mistaken as Earth’s leader. The film includes the voices of Zoe Saldaña, Brad Garrett and Jameela Jamil.
The Bad Guys 2
Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha and Ms. Tarantula in The Bad Guys 2. (© DreamWorks Animation / © Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection)
In theaters Aug. 1, 2025
Like Dog Man, the Bad Guys is a popular graphic novel series for kids about a gang of animal criminals. The first film, released in 2022, was a hit, so the sequel is coming, with the crew finding it challenging adjusting to being good guys. An all-female squad of criminals helps pull them out of retirement for a final job. Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron and Awkwafina are among the actors with voice roles.
Wicked: For Good
In theaters Nov. 21, 2025
The second part of the epic story — starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande — will hit screens in time for Thanksgiving. The studio won’t need another long promotional campaign to get people to see it. They’ll be lined up and ready to sing along.
Zootopia 2
In theaters Nov. 26, 2025
While it may feel as if the DMV sloth from the 2016 original is behind this sequel, it’s finally coming out in 2025. The first film was a huge box office hit (No. 4 that year) and this one sees rabbit cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her pal, the fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), team up again for a new case.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
In theaters Dec. 19, 2025
A fourth film, based on the popular TV series that premiered in 1999, is coming to the big screen to close out the year. The film will follow the yellow sponge as it travels deep into the ocean to face the ghost of a pirate specter known as the Flying Dutchman (voiced by Mark Hamill).
