Summary
Animated Movieshave come a long way ever since celluloid films and stop motion gave birth to a whole new industry, and the world saw the birth of many iconic animated characters.
This list looks at the best years for animated movies in history, taking in numerous considerations, such as how revolutionary the techniques applied were, how much revenue they netted, and overall title success.
101989
The Year When Animation Saved Disney
The last year of the 80’s was certainly one of the biggest ever, with movies likeBabar, and the all-time famousKikki’s Delivery Serviceby Studio Ghibli. But the most surprising thing about this year is the epic of the Disney animation branch, and how they almost disappeared from history. It was also the year when the saddest and most wholesome animated movieAll Dogs Go to Heavenmade millions of children worldwide cry their eyes out. And of course, the legendaryLittle Nemo: Adventures in Slumberlandan American/Japanese co-production that broke the charts.
Disney Corp was seriously considering closing up shop in their animation branch since competitors have been flooding the market since 1982 and numbers didn’t look good for the Mouse company. And then,The Little Mermaiddebuted and was a tremendous success. The film based on Hans Christian Andersen’s folk tale saved Disney’s animation department from shutting down and inaugurated a new golden age for Disney.
91995
Pixar Inaugurates A New Golden Age, Japanese Animation Steps Hard
1995 was a tremendous year for animation, following up half a decade of mildly successful films, this year was the point of no return for traditional layout animation and the new age of anime movies kicked off, withGhost In The Shell,the Cyberpunk blockbuster, and 2Dragon Ball Zmovies hitting the cinemas in the same fiscal year.
And then, of course, we got the mildly successfulA Goofy Movieand thePocahontashit on Disney’s side, theGargoylesfilm, and the start of Pixar’s rule over the animation film industry withToy Story. Many experts say that 1995 was a point of inflection between traditional and modern animation, and we can do nothing but agree on that.
81998
Mid-Golden Age of Animation, Best Year For Cultural Blockbusters
With Disney’s animation department working hard on several upcoming projects, it was the time for Dreamworks/Universal Studios to shine, and they went big withPrince of Egypt, a bet on Cultural animation narrating the tale of Moses and Ramses as no one had ever seen before. Then Disney releasedMulan, proving that musical animated films were kicking hard that year.
We also had 3D animation progressing even further withA Bug’s LifeandAntzhitting the cinemas and revolutionizing the new animation industry. And while everyone was distracted,Pokemondebuted on the big screenwithMetwtwo Strikes Backhitting the cinemas and The Pokemon Company collected some wild revenues with its flagship franchise. It was a good year for animation.
71997
Studio Ghibli Rises To Power, Disney In Its Prime
1997 was a tremendous year for animation, withHerculesin the headlines as one of the best-animated films made to that point, followed byPrincess Mononoke, with Studio Ghibli showing who’s boss, and 20th Century Fox joining the race withAnastasia, an underrated but visually impressive film that is legendary amongconnoisseurs of the animated industry.
Warner Bros animation started to gain some ground withThe Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest,a tendency in the super-hero animated films that would last over a decade, with DC Comics leading the boards with the best films in the genre. Other great titles included the sequels toBeauty and The Beast, andThe Swan Princessmovies, which didn’t collect too much praise, but also had great animation technicians working really hard to improve the industry, which led to the success of several titles in the years to come.
61999
Later Stages Of The Golden Age, Sequels And A New Fan Favorite
1999 was a curious year, with the second Pokemon movie (The Power of One) collecting a beastly revenue, and the remake of the original Fantasia (1940) movie barely earning enough to cover the budget. ThenPixar releasedToy Story 2which was, by far, one of the most successful animated films ever, with a budget of 90 million and a total revenue of over 511 million gross. The tremendously well-produced and critically acclaimedTarzan, with Phil Collins singing songs in several languages to give life to some of the greatest hits made for animation films ever.
On the other hand,The Iron Giantmade by Warner Bros Pictures' animation division was a flop, with a budget of over 50 and a total revenue of a little bit more than 33 million, which led to some structural changes in how WB managed their animated IPs. On that note: In 1998,The Quest For Camelot, a great and underrated movie as well, also flopped. It was a weird couple of years, with a lot of great and transcendent films released, though harsh for some producers who drew the short straw in an overly competitive market in the bloom. TheSouth Parkmovie (South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut)hit the Teaters with the lowest budget that year but nearly quadrupled its initial investment worldwide, proving that sometimes, animation is bound to what the audiences want, and that is also part of the business.
52001
Animated Films Become A Gathering Point For People All Ages
After the 2000s began, and prior to the new age of animation in 2001, there was a middle point or some sort of transition stage. Animated film producers began to understand a new marketing strategy would be the best, so, “animation for all” was the new premise, with films that could attract the attention of both the younger and eldest audiences at the same time. With movies likeJimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, andMonsters, Inc., a costly production that took some years to recover its initial budget. And of course,the incredibleSpirited Away, where Miyazaki outruled most of the conventions of traditional animation and made an all-time critically acclaimed masterpiece.Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, was the first attempt to recreate photo-realistic humans in animation and they nailed the technique but flopped the screenplay.
Disney also led the charge withAtlantis: The Lost Empirewith one of the highest budgets ever (nearly 100 million invested) and collected a total worldwide revenue of over 189 million. This movie was wonderful, polished, and featured some of the top-notch CGI that combined traditional animation with modern techniques; in other words: A Masterpiece. But then, a new franchise emerged, one that would revolutionize the animated film industry forever:Shrek. Produced at almost half the cost ofAtlantis,Shrekearned a whooping amount of 491 million worldwide and sparked one of the most successful and critically acclaimed franchises afterToy Story.
42002
The Later Age Of Lost Animated Film Jewels
Perhaps, one of the best years for animation in the past two decades was 2002, but most of the critics are not ready for that discussion. With movies likeTreasure Planet(remake),Lilo & Stitch,Ice Age,My Beautiful Girl, Mari,The Cat Returns, and the greatly underrated but revolutionarySpirit: Stallion of the Cimarron:one of the most epic films starring animals sinceThe Land Before Time(1988), with an immortal soundtrack, beautiful design, and a heartbreaking storytelling. It was a masterpiece and still is.
Treasure Planetwas visually impactful, incredibly well-designed, and overall, a great representation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s original work. ThenLilo & Stitchstole the spotlight with its endearing and wholesome representation of the premise that “there’s no ideal family but my own family.” But perhaps, what broke all records, is the rise to power of Blue Sky with the blockbusterIce Ageflick. It was the start of a new blockbuster franchise and a new age for modern animation.
32000
Underrated But Visually Impressing Films Change The Audience’s Expectations
The year 2000 was not only the inaugural year of a new millennium but also the new age of animation films. With some of the best animated films hitting the theaters, and some cool new techniques applied to animation becoming the new standard. CGI was getting stronger, better, and faster, and that gave birth to masterpieces likeTitan A.E.andDinosaur,which are tremendously underrated films, but masterpieces nonetheless. And out of the blue,Chicken Runwas a total box office success, with its low budget-stop-motion animation techniques, and conquering the revenue chart that year.
Disney bet hard on cultural representation withThe Emperor’s New Groove, which was a tremendous film (and an unending source of memes), honestly speaking, colorful, funny, and with a prime sense of humor. Sadly, it was also a box office “scratch that off,” with lower revenues than expected, which led Disney to believe that this was not the way forward. However, this film collected later success in the years to come, when it was released for home media, and nearly tripled its original budget. And of course, if we are talking about 2000 animated movies,The Road to El Doradostands at the top of the foodchain, with some of the best character developments, visual effects, and animation ever made by human hands.
22010
3D Animation Becomes The Norm, New Franchises Appear
Perhaps one of the last great years for animation over the past two decades, and one that yielded great hits likeBatman: Under the Red Hood,How to Train Your Dragon,Shrek Forever After,Toy Story 3,Despicable Me,Arrietty,Megamind, andTangled.It was one of the best years for DC animation, with the release of 3 movies in a row, including the previously mentionedSuperman/Batman: Apocalypseand the awesomeJustice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
How to Train Your Dragonwas an incredibly well-received film, becoming one of the highest box office successes of that year. ButToy Story 3overshadowed everything,becoming the highest-earning animated filmof all time (until it was dethroned in 2014 byFrozen), andShrek Forever Afterfollowing up close, ensuring that theShrekfranchise became one of the most successful of all times.
11982
The Golden Age of Animation Begins, The Best Year Ever
At the beginning of the earlier 80’s the animated film industry was about to change forever. With new techniques overthrowing the classic stop motion and paper frame-by-frame animation was left behind, and exchanged for a series of techniques (Cel animation) that would revolutionize the industry forever: It was the beginning of the Golden Age of Animation and the Best Year for animated films, ever.
1982 saw a mass release of critically acclaimed films, likeThe Last Unicorn,The Flight Of Dragons,Aladdin And The Wonderful Lamp(original),Arcadia of My Youth(Captain Harlock),Time Masters,Flash Gordon: the Greatest Adventure of All,Techno Police 21C,Stanley, the Ugly Duckling,Gauche the Cellist(also known as Goshu), and the originalTreasure Planet.But perhaps, the two most iconic films of that year wereThe Last Unicorn, andThe Secret of NIMH, the latter being the most successful that year, and the earlier, one of the lost jewels of animation that most aspirants to animators study closely due to its wonderful art and cel animation. Turns out,The Last Unicornwas a collaborationbetween US producers and a Japanese animationcompany named Topcraft, which would later become Hayao Miyazaki’s choice to animate the legendaryNauusica of the Valley of The Wind(Kaze no Tani no Naushika).
