Universal Pictures announced this week that the studio has set a new record for its highest-grossing year ever at the North American box office with a total of $1.352 billion through Sunday. The previous record was set in 2012 with total grosses having reached $1.335 billion. The studio bested its previous international box office record ($1.794 billion/2012) in mid-August and the previous worldwide record ($3.129 billion/2012) in September. Universal’s total worldwide grosses to date are $3.49 billion.
Largely responsible for Universal’s landmark year was Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 2 which had the highest opening for an animated film in 2013 domestically ($83.5 million) and has made over $916 million worldwide. Other top-ranking pics include Mama ($71.6 million), Identity Thief ($134.5 million), Oblivion ($89.1 million), Fast & Furious 6 ($238.7 million), The Purge ($64.5 million), 2 Guns ($75.6 million) and Riddick ($42 million).
On a worldwide basis, Universal Pictures boasts the second and third highest-grossing films of 2013 with Despicable Me 2, having grossed $916.1 million to date, and Fast & Furious 6 with $788 million. Despicable Me 2 is also the highest-grossing animated film of 2013 and is currently the fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time. Despicable Me 2 is also the studio’s second highest-grossing film of all time behind 1993’s Jurassic Park.
If you missed Despicable Me 2 in theaters, the DVD/Blu-ray release will be out on December 10.
