Summary

• DreamWorks' highest-grossing movies are from established franchises like Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon.
• Box office success doesn't always correlate with quality, but can indicate how resonant a movie is.
• DreamWorks' goal is to produce movies that people will pay to see, often through strategic marketing and highlighting the cast.

Most of DreamWorks' highest-grossing movies are contained within a few specific franchises. The movies DreamWorks puts out tend to be stunning hits or total flops, both among critics and at the box office. The Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon movies were, unsurprisingly, some of the most lucrative for DreamWorks. This shows that the studio's biggest box office successes are the result of its best filmmaking, as well as love for an established franchise, or strategic marketing highlighting a noteworthy cast.

However, a few movies that were critical failures and stand out as some of the worst DreamWorks features still managed to turn a profit. Box office numbers are not a true indicator of quality, but they do tend to reveal something about how resonant or entertaining the movie is. DreamWorks is a business like all major Hollywood studios, and its ultimate goal is to produce movies that people will pay to see for one reason or another.

15 How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Domestic Gross: $217.6 Million | Worldwide Total: $494.9 Million

It is possible that How to Train Your Dragon did not gross as much as some of the studio's other movies due to fans of Cressida Cowell's books being put off by the drastic changes that were made.

The How to Train Your Dragon movies are doubtlessly highlights of DreamWorks' repertoire, blending the studios' characteristic exaggerated world-building with a more serious story. DreamWorks can only hope that the live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake will be as good as the original. It is possible that How to Train Your Dragon did not gross as much as some of the studio's other movies due to fans of Cressida Cowell's books being put off by the drastic changes that were made. Regardless, How to Train Your Dragon was a critical and commercial success and soon became a DreamWorks staple.

All box office information contained in this list is according to boxofficemojo.com.

14 Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Domestic Gross: $143.5 Million | Worldwide Total: $521 Million

Kung Fu Panda 3 is demonstrative of the franchise's downward slide in quality. However, it was not immediately apparent that this would be the case with the third installment, following the success of the first two. With the promise of Jack Black and the rest of the Kung Fu Panda 5.

13 How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

Domestic Gross: $160.8 Million | Worldwide Total: $521.8 Million

How to Train Your Dragon also got worse as the franchise continued — barely. The final movie in the trilogy still tells a heartrending story of friendship and sacrifice, even if the villain is essentially a carbon copy of the previous movie's antagonist. The trailers d a new dragon who would serve as a love interest for Toothless, and Hiccup at some point narrating the story as though dragons were a thing of the past. How to Train Your Dragon fans came to the theater one last time for a satisfying conclusion that illustrates how much the characters have grown up.

12 The Boss Baby (2017)

Domestic Gross: $175 Million | Worldwide Total: $528 Million

Despite mediocre at best reviews from critics, The Boss Baby earned back its budget of $125 million and then some, according to the 2.5 rule. While the premise itself reeks of being low-quality entertainment, DreamWorks was able to sell the movie with Alec Baldwin in the lead role of a smart-talking, businessman baby. With some other comedic stars like Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow thrown in, it was enough to draw an audience. However, DreamWorks' luck did not hold out with The Boss Baby 2: Family Business, when it became clear that the concept was not all that great.

The 2.5 rule states that a movie needs to gross two and a half times its budget to turn a profit, with marketing and additional post-production costs factored in.

11 Madagascar (2005)

Domestic Gross: $193.6 Million | Worldwide Total: $542 Million

Despite achieving only average reviews from the start, the Madagascar movies would go on to become one of DreamWorks' longest-running franchises. It has one of the most marketable casts of the studio's movies, with a main group of four core characters all voiced by comedy icons. ing characters such as the espionage-adept squad of penguins and the party-inclined lemur King Julien only made the movie funnier in the most outrageous way possible. Madagascar's strangely entertaining story set up several more sequels for success, even though its ratings would only decline.

10 Puss In Boots (2011)

Domestic Gross: $149.2 Million | Worldwide Total: $555 Million

Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots is one of the few characters from all the Shrek movies who could carry his own spinoff. Puss' charisma combined with the enduring popularity of Shrek was enough to get people to buy into the idea of a spinoff, while the movie itself did the rest. The new characters in Puss in Boots were well-written to match Puss' personality. The movie has a great sense of humor and lets Puss be a beloved outlaw — the story could only be made better by the sheer artistic style of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

9 The Croods (2013)

Domestic Gross: $187 Million | Worldwide Total: $587.2 Million

The stacked cast including Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, and Catherine Keener also doubtlessly contributed to The Croods' box office success.

The Croods had the potential to be a new great DreamWorks franchise, even if this did not completely pan out. The pre-historical setting taps into an oddly popular outlet established by previous franchises such as Ice Age and The Flintstones. The stacked cast including Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, and Catherine Keener also doubtlessly contributed to The Croods' box office success. Emboldened by the movie's relative success, DreamWorks and its studios went on to produce a movie sequel. The Croods: A New Age received even better reviews than the first, leading to a spinoff TV show.

8 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Domestic Gross: $180 Million | Worldwide Total: $603.9 Million

All of Madagascar's marketing tricks remained effective for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. The sequel expands upon the story in interesting ways, demonstrating the stark difference in worldview between the animals that were raised in the New York zoo and those who lived their whole lives on a reserve in Africa. The first movie hinted at the animals ending up in Africa, so this was a logical way to go. The movie lets all the leading comedians do what they do best, while the penguins continue to be hilariously good at everything and Julien continues to believe that the world revolves around him.

7 How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Domestic Gross: $177 Million | Worldwide Total: $621.5 Million

How to Train Your Dragon 2 was set up for success, riding on the tails of its smash hit predecessor with the trailers promising the intriguing backstory of Hiccup's mother, voiced by Cate Blanchette. With just a bit of a head start won by the previous movie and any misgivings about the adaptations not being true to the books out of the way, How to Train Your Dragon 2 was on a clear path to becoming the highest-grossing movie of the franchise. All it needed then was more stunning flight sequences and adorable moments between Hiccup and Toothless.

6 Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Domestic Gross: $215.4 Million | Worldwide Total: $631.7 Million

Like the first Madagascar movie, Kung Fu Panda's marketing heavily relied on emphasizing its cast of A-listers. Jack Black as a goofy, clumsy panda was a promising concept, given DreamWorks' success with creating characters for comedic stars like Eddie Murphy. The rest of the cast only elevated the movie, with Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie as Po's more serious counterparts, and martial arts icons Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan on board as a nod to classic kung fu movies. Early reviews assured people that the movie was funny and heartfelt, paving the way for box office profits.