DreamWorks keeps raking in the cash with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as the new year gets into full swing. In this first week of 2023, the beloved sequel has now crossed $200 million at the global box office, becoming one of the animation studio’s biggest films yet and one of the best-performing animation films since the pandemic began. Thanks to a number of factors, including the fact that last weekend’s box office was hampered amidst New Year’s celebrations, and school vacations were still ongoing, the film benefited from a strong overall hold, seeing a minimal drop in performance from last week.
Over the weekend, The Last Wish became one of just ten animated films to cross the $100 million mark internationally in the pandemic era. It currently sits with an overseas mark of $112 million, surpassing Disney’s Lightyear in the process. This lands the film as the eighth highest-grossing MPA animation in the pandemic era and the third highest-grossing of DreamWorks’ catalog, falling behind The Bad Guys and The Croods: A New Age. Worldwide, those two films are also the only films ahead of The Last Wish, but at $250.4 and $216 million respectively, both are within striking distance of Antonio Banderas’s orange feline.
Moreover, The Last Wish added six new markets this weekend including Brazil, Korea, and Poland, giving it a further financial boost. At this point in its life cycle, it’s ahead of the massively popular Sing 2 without factoring in China, and it even passed the lifetime gross of the Illumination sequel in 12 markets. For DreamWorks, it’s a testament to both the enduring popularity of the extended Shrek franchise and the excellent word-of-mouth praise the film has received since its release. The marketing campaign certainly did wonders as well, including a stop on Sean Evans’ popular YouTube interview show Hot Ones.
