Disney/Pixar hit it home once again with their sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo with 2016’s Finding Dory. According to Deadline, the sequel which released earlier this summer on June 17th has now, in its 16th weekend, breezed by the $1 billion world wide box office mark. Domestically Finding Dory has grossed $484.8M and internationally earned an additional $516.7M. Finding Nemo totaled $940 million globally.
Directed by Andrew Stanton, the story tells how Dory came to be well, Dory. Stanton is no rookie to sequels as he already directed successfully second and third entry hits such as 1999’s Toy Story 2 ($239M intl’) and 2010’s Toy Story 3 ($648 intl’). As well as 2013’s Monster’s University ($475M intl’) which followed up 2001’s Monster’s Inc ($273M intl’).
The decade long gaps between Stanton’s Disney/Pixar sequels don’t seem to matter much as far as numbers because sequels are able to bring in new audiences as well as be nostalgic for older viewers. This is the second billion dollar movie to come out of the Disney/Pixar machine, the first being Toy Story 3. To the parent company Disney however, this is nothing new. Finding Dory is their fourth billion dollar film in the past 12 months and their 12th movie to break the highly sought after $1 billion record. It goes without saying that Disney/Pixar isn’t going anywhere.