By Movieguide® Staff
Industry experts weighed in on the massive popularity of family-friendly movies at the box office, from highly-anticipated sequels to original stories.
“Family movies have a lot of natural, inherent strength,” David A. Gross, who writes the FranchiseRe movie industry newsletter, told the LA Times. “Moviegoing as a habit had really broken during the pandemic, but it’s a positive thing to see how the habit is happening again for these big family movies.”
Just in the past few months, movies like ZOOTOPIA 2, THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE and HOPPERS have all dominated at the box office.
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“These PG family titles are really a good deal for the box office right now for a good reason,” Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution at Universal Pictures, told the outlet. “People want to be out, they want to do something that is exciting and immersive and also economical. It’s a way to build memories.”
Related: The Most Family-Friendly Movies Earn More Money, Annual Movieguide® Report Shows
THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE has set many industry standards already, including being the biggest Motion Picture Association opening weekend of 2026 so far and being the only animated franchise to have two titles open at over $350 million globally.
“This extraordinary weekend underscores the amazing partnership between Nintendo and Illumination, and the enduring strength of Mario and his pals,” Orr said in a statement. “THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE feels bigger and more ambitious, with audiences clearly embracing this next evolution of their world.”
Meanwhile, ZOOTOPIA 2 has made over $1 billion at the box office, and HOPPERS currently stands at a little over $333 million globally.
These numbers aren’t surprising. In Movieguide®’s 2025 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, it was revealed that “most family-friendly movies averaged $59.66 million per movie in 2024 in the United States and Canada.”
In a 2024 interview with The Times, Gross shared some more insight into why these movies perform so well at the box office.
“We call them ‘five quadrant movies,’” he said. “They appeal to families, as well as the traditional four audience demographic segments: younger and older males, and younger and older females. Movies that appeal to all of those groups have a terrific advantage at the box office.”
Gross continued, “In addition to the natural kid-friendly storytelling, the characters and dialogue are recognizable and engaging for older moviegoers.”
The continuing success of these kinds of movies at the box office proves what Movieguide® has been saying all along: family-friendly content will always win the day.
Read Next: Hollywood Finally Pays Attention to Family-Friendly Media—Here’s Why
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