List of Universal Pictures theatrical animated feature films

This article is about all animated features produced or distributed by Universal Pictures and its predecessors. For a list of features produced by Universal Animation Studios and its predecessors, see Universal Animation Studios § Filmography. For lists of features produced by other animation studios owned by NBCUniversal, see List of Illumination productions and List of DreamWorks Animation productions.

This is a list of theatrical animated feature films released by Universal Pictures, the film division of Comcast's NBCUniversal.

Universal Pictures releases films from Universal-owned and non-Universal owned animation studios. Most films listed below are from Illumination which began as the feature animation department of Universal, producing its first feature-length animated film Despicable Me in 2010. Beginning with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in 2019, Universal also itself released animated films by DreamWorks Animation, which were originally released under their then DreamWorks Pictures film production label, but the company was later acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016.^[1][2][3] Other studio units have also released films theatrically, including Universal Animation Studios, which now focuses mainly on animating television shows and direct-to-video films, and Amblimation, which was DreamWorks Animation's predecessor.

The studio's distribution unit acquires film rights from outside animation studios to release films under the Universal Pictures or Focus Features film labels. For example, Laika's stop-motion animated features were released by Universal through its Focus Features label. Other studios globally have released films through Universal Pictures which maintains distribution rights in certain territories.

Films

Color legend

Amblimation (1991–95)
Universal Animation Studios (2006–present)
Illumination (2010–present)
DreamWorks Animation (2019–present)
Other Universal studio
Third-party studio
Live-action/animation hybrid sold as animation	S
Live-action/animation hybrid sold as live-action	SL
Distribution only	D
An adult animated production	A

American releases

Title	Original theatrical release date[rls 1]	Animation studio
The Snow Queen[D][S]	November 20, 1959[rls 2][rls 3]	Soyuzmultfilm
Pinocchio in Outer Space[D]	December 22, 1965	Belvision Studios
An American Tail	November 21, 1986	Amblin Entertainment and Sullivan Bluth Studios
The Land Before Time	November 18, 1988
Jetsons: The Movie[D]	July 6, 1990	Hanna-Barbera
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West	November 22, 1991	Amblimation
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story	November 24, 1993
Casper[SL]	May 26, 1995	Amblin Entertainment and The Harvey Entertainment Company
Babe[SL]	August 4, 1995	Kennedy Miller Productions
Balto[S]	December 22, 1995	Amblimation
Babe: Pig in the City[SL]	November 25, 1998	Kennedy Miller Productions
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle[S]	June 30, 2000	Jay Ward Productions and TriBeCa Productions
How the Grinch Stole Christmas[SL]	November 17, 2000	Imagine Entertainment
The Cat in the Hat[SL]	November 21, 2003	DreamWorks Pictures and Imagine Entertainment
Curious George	February 10, 2006	Universal Animation Studios and Imagine Entertainment
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie[D]	January 11, 2008	Big Idea Entertainment and Starz Animation
The Tale of Despereaux	December 19, 2008	Relativity Media and Framestore Animation
Despicable Me	July 9, 2010	Illumination
Paul[A][SL]	March 18, 2011	Relativity Media, Working Title Films, Big Talk Studios, and StudioCanal
Hop[S]	April 1, 2011	Illumination and Relativity Media
The Lorax	March 2, 2012	Illumination
Ted[A][SL]	June 29, 2012	Media Rights Capital, Fuzzy Door Productions, Bluegrass Films, and Smart Entertainment
Despicable Me 2	July 3, 2013	Illumination
Ted 2[A][SL]	June 26, 2015	Media Rights Capital, Fuzzy Door Productions, Bluegrass Films, and Smart Entertainment
Minions	July 10, 2015	Illumination
The Secret Life of Pets	July 8, 2016
Sing	December 21, 2016
Despicable Me 3	June 30, 2017
The Grinch	November 9, 2018
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World	February 22, 2019	DreamWorks Animation
The Secret Life of Pets 2	June 7, 2019[4]	Illumination
Abominable	September 27, 2019[5][6][7][8][9]	DreamWorks Animation and Pearl Studio
Trolls World Tour	April 10, 2020[10][11][12][13][14][15]	DreamWorks Animation
The Croods: A New Age	November 25, 2020[16][17]
Spirit Untamed	June 4, 2021[18][19]
The Boss Baby: Family Business	July 2, 2021[20]
Sing 2	December 22, 2021[4][17][21]	Illumination
The Bad Guys	April 22, 2022[22]	DreamWorks Animation and Scholastic Entertainment
Minions: The Rise of Gru	July 1, 2022[4][17][21]	Illumination
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish	December 21, 2022[23][24][25]	DreamWorks Animation
The Super Mario Bros. Movie	April 5, 2023[26][27][25]	Illumination and Nintendo
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken	June 30, 2023[28][29]	DreamWorks Animation
Strays[SL][A]	August 18, 2023[30][31]	Picturestart, Lord Miller Productions, and Rabbit Hole Productions
Trolls Band Together	November 17, 2023[32]	DreamWorks Animation
Migration	December 22, 2023[33]	Illumination
Kung Fu Panda 4	March 8, 2024[34]	DreamWorks Animation
Despicable Me 4	July 3, 2024[33]	Illumination
The Wild Robot	September 27, 2024[35][36][37]	DreamWorks Animation
Dog Man	January 31, 2025[35][38]	DreamWorks Animation and Scholastic Entertainment
The Bad Guys 2	August 1, 2025[35][39]	DreamWorks Animation

Upcoming

See also: Upcoming DreamWorks Animation films and Upcoming Illumination films

Title	Intended theatrical release date by Universal Pictures	Animation studio
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie[SL]	September 26, 2025[35][40]	DreamWorks Animation
Super Mario World [41]	April 3, 2026[42][43]	Illumination and Nintendo
Minions 3	July 1, 2026[44][45]	Illumination
Forgotten Island	September 25, 2026[46]	DreamWorks Animation
LarryBoy	2026[47][48]	Big Idea Entertainment and Kingstone Studios
Untitled Illumination film	April 16, 2027[45][49]	Illumination
Shrek 5	June 30, 2027[50][51][52][53][54][45][49]	DreamWorks Animation
Cocomelon: The Movie[D]	2027[55]	DreamWorks Animation, Moonbug Entertainment, Flywheel Media, and Prime Focus Studios
Lego[S]	TBA[56]	Lego System A/S, Rideback, Lord Miller Productions, Vertigo Entertainment, and Animal Logic

International releases

Title	Original theatrical release date[rls 4]	Animation studio
Small Soldiers[A][SL]	July 10, 1998[st 1]	DreamWorks Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
The Abrafaxe – Under The Black Flag[D]	October 25, 2001 (German)[st 1]	Abrafaxe Trickfilm
Momo[D]	December 21, 2001 (Italy)[st 1]	Taurus Produktion
Coraline[D]	February 6, 2009	Laika[st 2]
Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!	July 10, 2009 (Denmark)[rls 5]	Universal Animation Studios and Imagine Entertainment
9[A]	September 9, 2009	Starz Animation[st 2]
Nikté[D]	December 18, 2009 (Mexico)[st 1]	Animex Producciones
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer[SL]	June 10, 2011[st 1]	Relativity Media and Smokewood Entertainment
ParaNorman[D]	August 17, 2012	Laika[st 2]
Underdogs[D]	July 18, 2013 (Argentina)[st 1]	Prana Studios and 100 Bares Producciones
Moshi Monsters: The Movie[D]	December 20, 2013[st 1]	Spider Eye Productions
Song of the Sea[D]	September 6, 2014 (Ireland)[st 1]	StudioCanal and Cartoon Saloon
The Seventh Dwarf[D]	September 25, 2014 (Germany)[st 1]	Zipfelmützen Film GmbH & Co. KG
The Boxtrolls[D]	September 26, 2014	Laika[st 2]
Yellowbird[D]	October 11, 2014[st 1]	TeamTO
Ratchet & Clank[D]	April 29, 2016	Rainmaker Entertainment and Blockade Entertainment[st 3]
Kubo and the Two Strings[D]	August 19, 2016	Laika[st 2]
Ethel & Ernest[D]	October 28, 2016[st 1]	Cloth Cat Animation
The Breadwinner[D]	September 8, 2017 (Canada)[st 1]	Elevation Pictures, StudioCanal, and Cartoon Saloon
Woody Woodpecker[SL]	October 5, 2017 (Brazil)[rls 5]	Universal Animation Studios and Cinemotion
The Boss Baby	March 21, 2018 (Japan)[st 4]	DreamWorks Animation
The Addams Family[D]	October 11, 2019[st 1]	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Cinesite[st 5]
The Addams Family 2[D]	October 1, 2021[st 1][57][58]
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On[D][SL]	February 17, 2023 (United Kingdom)[59]	A24, Cinereach, You Want I Should, Human Woman, Sunbeam Television & Films, and Chiodo Bros. Productions[st 2]
Mavka: The Forest Song[D]	March 29, 2023 (France)[st 1][60]	Animagrad Animation Studio and Film.UA
Piece by Piece[D]	October 11, 2024[61]	The Lego Group, Tremolo Productions, and I Am Other[st 2]

Highest-grossing films

† indicates films playing in theaters around the world in the week commencing 8 August 2025.

This list does not include films combining live-action with animation.

Rank	Film	Worldwide gross	Studio	Year	Ref.
1	The Super Mario Bros. Movie	$1,363,298,473	Illumination and Nintendo	2023	[62]
2	Minions	$1,159,398,397	Illumination	2015	[63]
3	Despicable Me 3	$1,034,799,409		2017	[64]
4	Despicable Me 2	$970,761,885		2013	[65]
5	Despicable Me 4	$968,240,710		2024	[66]
6	Minions: The Rise of Gru	$939,628,210		2022	[67]
7	The Secret Life of Pets	$875,457,937		2016	[68]
8	Sing	$634,151,679			[69]
9	Kung Fu Panda 4	$546,362,086	DreamWorks Animation	2024	[70]
10	Despicable Me	$543,113,985	Illumination	2010	[71]

See also

• List of Universal Pictures films
• List of DreamWorks Animation productions
  • List of unproduced DreamWorks Animation projects
• List of Illumination productions
• List of unproduced Universal Pictures animated projects

Notes

Release Notes

1. Listed are the original theatrical release dates in the United States (or other non-U.S. territories) when the film was contributed by Universal. Different distributors are attributed and credited for distributing each film throughout the history of Universal.
2. Original Soviet release date was November 15, 1957
3. Released by Universal Pictures in North America
4. Listed are the original theatrical release dates in the United States (or other non-U.S. territories) when the film was contributed by Universal. Different distributors are attributed and credited for distributing each film throughout the history of Universal.
5. Not released theatrically in the United States, released as DTV film

Studio/Production Notes

1. Released by Universal outside North America
2. Released by Focus Features.
3. Released by Gramercy Pictures.
4. Released by Universal in Japan
5. Released theatrically by MGM in USA

Rights Notes