2026 has been a genuinely strong year for animated and family films, spanning big theatrical tentpoles, a surprise streaming favorite, and a couple of beloved franchises getting fresh entries. Here are the best of the year across both theaters and streaming.
1. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Illumination and Nintendo’s sequel became 2026’s highest-grossing animated film, crossing $1 billion worldwide while leaning into Mario and Luigi’s brotherly relationship alongside its interstellar action set pieces. Still playing in select theaters as part of extended holiday re-releases.
2. Toy Story 5
Pixar’s fifth entry, released June 19, follows the toys back at Bonnie’s house as a new tablet device threatens to replace them in her affections. The film closed its theatrical run at a strong $1.14 billion worldwide.
For the full streaming release date and cast details, see our Toy Story 5 release guide.
3. Swapped
Widely cited as the best animated film of 2026 so far for its cinematography and thoughtful storytelling, “Swapped” built its reputation as a streaming-first Netflix original rather than a theatrical release, proving animated originals can still break out without a big-screen push.
4. Minions & Monsters
Released July 1, this entry sends the Minions to 1920s Hollywood, where they accidentally unleash real movie monsters while trying to make a creature feature of their own — a clever period-set twist on the franchise’s usual chaos formula.
5. Hoppers
A college student transfers her consciousness into a robot beaver in this Disney+ original, which found a dedicated audience through word-of-mouth rather than a traditional theatrical marketing push, settling at $389.7 million worldwide once theatrical and ancillary revenue are counted.
6. Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass
The classic rivals accidentally travel through time via a magical compass in this September 4 theatrical release, continuing the franchise’s recent run of theatrical revivals for a classic property.
7. GOAT
This animated family film posted a smaller but still solid $195 million worldwide, landing comfortably in Hit territory against its reported budget and quietly becoming one of the year’s more efficient animated releases.
8. Frozen 3 (First Look)
While not released until 2027, Disney’s D23 reveal of Anna’s wedding and a new villain made this one of the year’s most-discussed family franchise announcements, and it’s worth tracking now for anyone planning ahead. See our full D23 2026 announcement roundup for everything else revealed.
9. PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie
The long-running preschool franchise’s latest theatrical entry continued its reliable box office performance among the youngest moviegoing audience, a consistent earner even without competing at the scale of this list’s biggest entries.
10. Coyote vs. Acme
Originally shelved by Warner Bros. for a tax write-off before Ketchup Entertainment rescued it, this blend of animation and live action finally reached theaters to a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, closing its run as a genuine Hit and one of the year’s most unlikely family-film comeback stories.
Honorable Mentions Worth a Look
A few titles just missed the main list but deserve a mention. “Minions & Monsters” leaned harder into genuine horror-comedy tension than the franchise usually attempts, a tonal risk that mostly paid off with critics even if it occasionally confused younger viewers expecting pure slapstick. “GOAT” and “Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass” both benefited from keeping their budgets modest relative to the genre’s usual scale, which let them post comfortable financial wins without needing a billion-dollar global rollout to be considered successes. And while “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” won’t top anyone’s best-reviewed list, its reliability as a franchise entry is itself a kind of achievement — preschool-targeted films rarely get critical attention, but their consistent performance is exactly what studios depend on to fund riskier originals like “Swapped” elsewhere on their slate.
What Made 2026 Different for Family Films
The clearest trend this year is how much ground streaming-first originals gained against traditional theatrical releases — “Swapped” built its reputation entirely through Netflix, and “Hoppers” found its audience on Disney+ rather than in theaters, yet both are being talked about in the same breath as billion-dollar theatrical hits like “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” a comparison that would have seemed unlikely for a streaming-only animated title just a couple of years ago. That’s a meaningfully different conversation than a few years ago, when a family film without a big theatrical push rarely competed for year-end “best of” attention. For the full picture on how 2026’s biggest releases performed financially, see our Hollywood Box Office 2026 tracker, updated continuously throughout the year as new releases open and existing runs close out.
Rotten Tomatoes is a reliable source for checking current critical and audience scores on any title from this list before you commit to watching.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best animated movie of 2026?
“Swapped” is widely cited as the best-reviewed animated film of 2026, while “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is the year’s highest-grossing animated release.
Are any of these still in theaters?
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has continued playing in select theaters through extended holiday re-releases; most others have moved to streaming or digital purchase.
Which 2026 family film is a streaming exclusive?
“Swapped” is a Netflix original with no theatrical release, while “Hoppers” is a Disney+ original.
