‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ Overtakes ‘Rio 2’ As Top-Grossing Animated Film of 2014
As we wrote in last weekend’s box office report, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 was set to surpass $500 million at the global box office sometime this week. Dragon did so yesterday, thanks to a $5.6 million opening in China. The film also exceeded Rio 2′s $494.1 million gross to become the top-grossing animated feature of 2014 to date.
The film’s box office performance follows the pattern of other DreamWorks franchises, like Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar, in which the second film of the series earned less money in the United States than the original, but its overall global box office was still up due to strong international performance.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 has already opened in most international territories, but it will open in Italy this weekend.
For reference, here is how the Dragon films stack up against the global box office performance of other DreamWorks franchises:
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON SERIES
How to Train Your Dragon: $494.8 million
How to Train Your Dragon 2: $500+ million (still in theaters)SHREK SERIES
Shrek: $484.4 million
Shrek 2: $919.8 million
Shrek 2the Third: $799 million
Shrek Forever After: $752.6 millionMADAGASCAR SERIES
Madagascar: $532.7 million
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: $603.9 million
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted: $746.9 millionKUNG FU PANDA SERIES
Kung Fu Panda: $631.7 million
Kung Fu Panda 2: $665.7 million