“Frozen” just set the record for highest grossing animated film of all time (as of this post), but these things can be misleading.  After all, you have to adjust for inflation.

I used to edit and write for a magazine called “Animato!” which was about animated films, and we would periodically update the “adjusted for inflation” chart.  For today’s purposes, we’ll use Box Office Mojo’s list and statistics.   

Not surprisingly, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” wins this one.  It was a huge success back in the days when there was no TV and everyone went to the movies.  It also has the benefit of being re-released every ten years or so, bringing in a new generation and racking up even more dollars.  This was the standard for almost all Disney animated films until video came along. (And the list below does not take into consideration video sales.)

This list is for domestic films so doesn’t take into consideration world wide sales, which would be next to impossible to calculate based on inflation.

To make matters worse, since the pandemic, more films are being released through streaming services only, so there are no “ticket sales” to place them on this list. Someday maybe there will be a way to calculate views from downloads and compare them to how many tickets were sold at theaters but we don’t have that yet — and that’s why you won’t see some films released in the last few years that were very popular but were not in theaters.

The Box Office Mojo chart looks like this (updated September 27, 2022):

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)
2. 101 Dalmations (1961)
3. The Lion King (1994)
4. Fantasia (1941)
5. The Jungle Book (1967)
6. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
7. Shrek 2 (2004)
8. Pinocchio (1940)
9. The Incredibles 2 (2018)
10. Bambi (1942)
11. Finding Nemo (2003)
12. The Lion King (2019)
13. Cinderella (1950)
14. Finding Dory (2016)
15. Lady and the Tramp (1955)
16. Toy Story 3 (2010)
17. Aladdin (1992)
18. Frozen 2 (2019)
19. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
20. Frozen (2013)
21. Toy Story 4 (2019)
22. Toy Story (1995)
23. Toy Story 2 (1999)
24. Shrek (2001)
25. Shrek the Third (2007)
26. Despicable Me 2 (2013)
27. Peter Pan (1953)
28. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
29. The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
30. Inside Out (2015)
31. The Incredibles (2004)
32. Minions (2015)
33. Zootopia (2016)
34. Up (2009)
35. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
36. Cars (2006)
37. A Bug’s Life (1998)
38. Tarzan (1999)
39. Monsters University (2013)
40. Despicable Me (2010)
41. Pocahontas (1995)
42. The Lego Movie (2014)
43. Wall-E (2008)
44. Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)
45. Sing (2016)
46. Ice Age (2002)
47. Shrek Forever After (2010)
48. Madagascar (2005)
49. Happy Feet (2006)
50. Ratatouille (2007)
51. Kung Fu Panda (2008)
52. The Grinch (2018)
53. Brave (2012)
54. Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
55. Despicable Me 3 (2017)
56. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeaquel (2009)
57. Moana (2016)
58. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
59. The Lorax (2012)
60. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
61. Big Hero 6 (2014)
62. The Simpsons Movie (2007)
63. Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
64. The Little Mermaid (1989)
65. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
66. Shark Tale (2004)
67. Mulan (1998)
68. Dinosaur (2000)
69. Tangled (2010)
70. Lilo and Stitch (2002)
71. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
72. The Rescuers (1977)
73. Cars 2 (2011)
74. Over the Hedge (2006)
75. Wreck It Ralph (2012)
76. Coco (2017)
77. The Croods (2013)
78. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
79. Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
80. Hercules (1997)
81. Horton Hears a Who (2008)
82. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
83. The Rugrats Movie (1998)
84. Chicken Little (2005)
85. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
86. The Prince of Egypt (1998)
87. Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
88. Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
89. Space Jam (1996)
90. The Fox and the Hound (1981)
91. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)
92. Robots (2005)
93. The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
94. Chicken Run (2000)
95. The Boss Baby (2017)
96. Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
97. Antz (1998)
98. Puss in Boots (2011)
99. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
100. Megamind (2010)
101. Hotel Transylvania (2012)
102. Bee Movie (2007)
103. The Smurfs (2011)
104. Oliver & Company (1988)
105. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
106. Rio (2011)
107. The Secret Lives of Pets 2 (2019)
108. Trolls (2016)
109. Cars 3 (2017)
110. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)
111. Pokemon (1999)
112. Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
113. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
114. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
115. Pokemon Detective Pikachu (2019)
116. Bolt (2008)
117. Rio 2 (2014)
118. Rango (2011)
119. Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
120. The Peanuts Movie (2015)
121. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)