Sing 2 is currently pulling a, well, whatever it is you want to call it when one title rules all five relevant VOD platforms. To wit, it “won the weekend” over at Vudu and is currently tops at Google, Amazon, iTunes and YouTube. This despite its continued existence in theatrical play, where the film had another slight (29%) drop in weekend five. Sing 2 has now earned $128.4 million domestic, passing Ghostbusters: Afterlife ($127 million) as 2021’s ninth-biggest domestic earner. It has also earned $242 million worldwide, passing both Universal’s own The Croods: A New Age ($227 million) and Walt Disney’s Encanto ($215 million) to become the biggest-grossing animated film since Frozen II ($1.45 billion in late 2019). The Illumination toon is yet another example of how, under certain circumstances, streaming and theatrical exhibition that somewhat coexist.
Illumination’s Sing was a leggy smash when it opened over Christmas weekend 2016. It grossed $35 million over the Fri-Sun part of a $55 million Wed-Sun debut and had earned $166.4 million by the time kids went back to school on day 13 in early 2017. It would gross $271 million, besting the (unadjusted) $243 million domestic cume of My Big Fat Greek Wedding to become the biggest-grossing movie never to reach #1 at the daily or weekend box office. Yes, it made its fortune (including $634 million worldwide) right alongside Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532 million domestic and $1.05 billion worldwide) on a mere $75 million budget. Likewise, Sing 2 was the only late-2021 release aside from Spider-Man: No Way Home ($721 million/$1.69 billion and counting) to make any real money theatrically.
A likely $140 million domestic total and (if it performs well in its remaining territories) $300 million global cume < $271 million/$634 million. However, the film only cost $85 million, so it’ll absolutely be profitable in raw theatrical revenue alone. Moreover, the film has already achieved a better domestic hold compared to the first Sing than did The Secret Life of Pets 2 ($160 million in 2019) compared to The Secret Life of Pets ($368 million in 2016). Prior to Covid, animated sequels were taking sharp dives as films (The LEGO Movie, Angry Birds, etc.) that were four-quadrant biggies were spawning sequels that were perceived as “just for kids” attractions. That’s arguably a key reason Universal opted to send Trolls: World Tour to PVOD (and why WB did likewise with Scoob!) in the early months of Covid.
Sing 2 arguably performed as well amid Covid and with the shrunken theatrical window as it would have in non-Covid or pre-Covid circumstances. Likewise, Halloween Kills (now making a good VOD showing with an extended cut) holding more of its Halloween audience ($91 million versus $159 million) than did Halloween II in 1981 or Rob Zombie’s Halloween II in 2009 implies a business-as-usual performance despite concurrent Peacock availability. Venom: Let There Be Carnage essentially tying Venom’s $213.5 million domestic cume may not make it a breakout sequel, but it held better than (for example) Deadpool 2 ($318 million sans the PG-13 version) versus Deadpool ($363 million). Likewise, can Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hold as well (from Sonic’s $146 million/$306 million finish) as, say, from Jumanji 2 ($404 million/$962 million) to Jumanji 3 ($320 million/$800 million)?
This may be a valuable metric for measuring relative theatrical success for ongoing franchises amid Covid circumstances and shattered theatrical windows. Alas, an over/under $300 million global cume is only good enough for Sing 2 because it cost around half of what most Disney or Pixar toons tend to cost. While I’d love to be able to say “Well, if an Illumination sequel earned $300 million, then a Pixar original can earn $450-$550 million,” well, we haven’t had an original/non-sequel animated smash outside of China since Pixar’s Coco ($206 million/$809 million) in November 2017. Granted, Disney sending Turning Red to Disney+ is about a prioritization of the streaming platform and Pixar’s value as an A+ “cool kids” brand. Nonetheless, Sing 2 is another example of a mid-budget biggie thriving in and out of theaters.
