Across the Spider-Verse overtaken at the international box office by an overlooked animated movie

Elemental
(Image credit: Disney/Pixar)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been beaten at the international box office by an unlikely contender – Pixar's animated rom-com Elemental.

Across the Spider-Verse has made $305.9 million outside of the US, while Elemental has cashed in $307.2 million, according to data shared by Box Office Mojo. This makes Elemental the second-highest-grossing animated movie of the year in international markets, beaten to the top spot only by The Super Mario Bros. Movie

It's been a slow burn at the box office for Elemental, which debuted to Pixar's lowest domestic opening weekend since the '90s when it hit the big screen in June, while Across the Spider-Verse scored the year's second-biggest opening weekend at the US box office in the same month (beaten, again, by a certain overall-wearing plumber…). It's in the international market, then, that Pixar's latest has found its spark.

Set in a world of anthropomorphized elements of nature, the movie charts the unlikely love story between fire element Ember (Leah Lewis) and water element Wade (Mamoudou Athie). Across the Spider-Verse, meanwhile, is the sequel to 2019's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and follows the exploits of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in the multiverse as he comes up against the Spider Society. 

For more on Elemental, check out our interview with the movie's director Peter Sohn and stars Athie and Lewis. And, for more on Across the Spider-Verse, check out our deep dives on: 

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.