"The Wild Robot" opened to $35,790,150 in its first domestic weekend and went on to earn $334,500,404 worldwide. DreamWorks Animation's film, directed by Chris Sanders and distributed by Universal Pictures, turned a strong debut into one of 2024's steadiest animated runs. The numbers below cover the opening weekend, the full domestic and international totals, and why the film kept earning well past its first month in theaters.
Table of Contents
- How Much Did "The Wild Robot" Make Opening Weekend?
- What Was the Final Domestic Box Office Total?
- How Much Did It Earn Worldwide?
- Was "The Wild Robot" Profitable?
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Did "The Wild Robot" Make Opening Weekend?
"The Wild Robot" earned $35,790,150 domestically over its opening weekend of September 27-29, 2024, playing in 3,962 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. That total put it at #1 for the weekend, ahead of Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis." Universal's own internal estimate for the weekend was $35 million, and the studio's projection was beaten, as ABC News reported via the Associated Press wire. The same report noted the film also outperformed the prior weekend's animated competitor, "Transformers One." The wide release landed on September 27, 2024, confirmed by The Numbers, which tracks the film under its full production credits: DreamWorks Animation produced it, and Universal Pictures distributed it theatrically.
What Was the Final Domestic Box Office Total?
The film's domestic theatrical run closed at $143,901,945, per Box Office Mojo's tracking page. The Numbers' independent count puts the final domestic figure slightly higher, at $144,564,905, a gap the site attributes to later reporting revisions rather than any difference in release, according to The Numbers.
Either figure represents roughly four times the opening weekend gross. That opening-to-final multiplier, often called a film's "legs" in box office tracking, ran to about 4.0x — a result Box Office Pro called unusually strong for an animated release. The site tied the staying power to the film's 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and an "A" CinemaScore grade, both of which point to positive audience word-of-mouth driving repeat ticket sales through October and into November 2024.
How Much Did It Earn Worldwide?
Combining domestic and international ticket sales, "The Wild Robot" reached $334,500,404 worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. Subtracting the domestic total from that figure puts international box office at roughly $190.6 million, meaning more than half the film's total gross came from outside the United States and Canada.
The Numbers' own worldwide tally lands close behind, at $335,223,173, consistent with its slightly higher domestic figure, according to The Numbers. The film crossed the $300 million worldwide mark by November 2024, a milestone Animation Magazine reported just days before the ongoing run pushed the total past $330 million.
Was "The Wild Robot" Profitable?
The Numbers lists the film's production budget at $78,000,000, a figure reported separately from marketing and distribution costs, according to The Numbers. Against that budget, the worldwide gross of roughly $334-335 million worked out to about 4.3 times the production cost before any marketing spend is factored in.
For readers comparing it to other 2024 animated releases, that multiple sits well above the rough 2x-to-2.5x break-even threshold studios typically target once marketing and theater splits are included. Combined with the 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and "A" CinemaScore cited by Box Office Pro, the film's financial performance lines up with its critical reception rather than diverging from it, which is not always the case for animated box office results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did "The Wild Robot" open at #1?
Yes. It opened at #1 domestically with $35,790,150, ahead of "Megalopolis," according to Box Office Mojo.
How many theaters did it open in?
It opened in 3,962 domestic theaters on September 27, 2024, per Box Office Mojo.
Did international or domestic box office earn more?
International markets outearned domestic, contributing roughly $190.6 million of the $334,500,404 worldwide total, per Box Office Mojo.