(Updated 06/26/2024)
It's a great time for animation, and not just because the game has been significantly changed by the SPIDER-VERSE and new TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES movies. Nearly every big studio is trying something new with animated movies or expanding their fan-favorite worlds.
While we wait for the MUTANT MAYHEM sequel and the third and final SPIDER-VERSE movie — both likely to arrive in 2025 — we'll see DESPICABLE ME 4, MOANA 2, and THE WILD ROBOT. There's much more coming later in the year, too, and we have all the new animated movie titles listed below.
Note: If you're looking for movies that fall into the anime category, we've got a look at those, too!
Animated Movies Playing Now in Theatres
Despicable Me 4
In the first DESPICABLE ME movie in seven years, Gru, the world’s favorite supervillain- turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, returns for a bold new era of Minions mayhem. Gru and Lucy and their girls — Margo, Edith and Agnes — welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina, and the family is forced to go on the run. [July 3]
Inside Out 2
The little voices inside Riley’s head know her inside and out—but next summer, everything changes when INSIDE OUT 2 introduces a new Emotion: Anxiety. The movie returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.
Animated Movies Coming to Movie Theatres Soon
And there's more to come this year and into 2024!
Transformers One
An origin story set on Cybertron, the original home of the Autobots and Decepticons. The film is said to focus on the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron, and its transformation from friendship to hatred. [September 20]
The WIld Robot
The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling. [September 27]
Piece by Piece
Piece by Piece is a unique cinematic experience that invites audiences on a vibrant journey through the life of cultural icon Pharrell Williams. Told through the lens of LEGO® animation, turn up the volume on your imagination and witness the evolution of one of music's most innovative minds. [October 11]
Moana 2
After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced. [November 27]
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
More than two hundred years before the events of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, the King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, must defend his lands from vicious attacks by men called the Dunlendings. This anime explores an unseen chapter in Middle-Earth's history, and features the voices of Brian Cox and Miranda Otto. [December 13]
Mufasa: The Lion King
MUFASA: THE LION KING enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe. [December 20]
Elio
For centuries, people have called out to the universe looking for answers—in Disney and Pixar’s all-new movie “Elio,” the universe calls back! The original feature film introduces Elio, an underdog with an active imagination who finds himself inadvertently beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide. Mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador to the rest of the universe, and completely unprepared for that kind of pressure, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be. [June 13, 2025]
We'll have more movies for kids and families in the months to come!
All images courtesy of Universal Pictures.