‘Flow’ Continues Its Historic Box Office Run, Passing $50 Million Milestone (EXCLUSIVE)

Latvian Oscar-winning animated feature “Flow” has officially passed the $50 million mark at the global box office this week, its sales company, Charades, has confirmed to Variety. The milestone makes “Flow” one of the most commercially successful independent animated Oscar nominees in recent years.

Directed by Gints Zilbalodis and produced by Sacrebleu Productions, Dream Well and Take Five, “Flow” has defied expectations for a dialogue-free film made on a modest €3.5 million ($3.7 million) budget. The story follows a cat who survives a devastating flood and finds companionship on a boat with other displaced animals. Without humans present, the animals drift through an abandoned world in search of hope and safety.

While many international animated features have gained festival and awards recognition without significant box office returns, “Flow” has broken that pattern. Excluding Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” it stands as the top-grossing indie animated Oscar nominee of recent years. By contrast, 2024’s “Robot Dreams” earned $4.7 million globally, and 2023’s “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” made $6.9 million.

Regionally, “Flow” has posted impressive numbers: over $5.9 million in France via UFO Distribution, $2.7 million in the U.K. with Curzon, $2.5 million in Germany, and over $2.1 million in its native Latvia, where it is the most-viewed film ever with more than 255,000 admissions sold.

In North America, Janus Films and Sideshow delivered $4.8 million. Latin America contributed $14.6 million, with Mexico alone crossing $7 million. In Asia, China brought in $3.91 million, with South Korea, Hong Kong and others adding to the total.

Zilbalodis shared his excitement regarding the $50 million milestone, telling Variety, “The global response to ‘Flow’ has shattered even our most optimistic expectations. I think that this has shown that there’s a big appetite for original and personal stories and that there’s a lot of potential for independent animated films made by very small teams to reach a huge worldwide audience. I hope that now many more people will have opportunities to make unique and boundary-pushing films.”