Animated Movies Rule The Box Office As Frozen Closes In On $1 Billion Mark ...

Animated movies are proving to be big business at the box office as two of this year's family friendly releases, Frozen and The Lego Movie, set new records.

Following the success of Despicable Me 2 and Epic last year, Disney's Frozen is another animated hit that's still pulling in the punters.

The feature film, loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, is fast approaching the coveted $1 billion box office marker in global ticket sales, and that's after just 13 weeks in theatres.

Frozen has so far grossed a massive $378 million in the US, and $579 million internationally, for a grand total of $957 million, already making it the third-highest grossing animated movie ever behind Despicable Me 2 with $970 million worldwide, and Toy Story 3 with $1 billion worldwide.

Frozen has captivated the movie market (Disney)

Aside from it's huge success Stateside, the film has enjoyed big numbers in the international market with the UK making up $60.9 million in sales so far while in Korea, where it's has been at the top of the box office for five weeks running, the film has already earned $66.4 million. It's estimated that the movie will easily make the $1 billion mark in the coming weeks, thanks largely to its upcoming release in Japan on March 15.

The March 2 Oscars will also no doubt prove to be a boost too as the film is favourite to clinch the Best Animated Feature as well as being a frontrunner for Best Song, thanks to it's hugely popular tune Let It Go.

The Lego Movie is number one on both sides of the pond (Warner Bros.)

Animated movies' dominance at the box office has also been proven by the success of The Lego Movie which has soared to the top of the UK box office this week after raking in more than £8 million in its first weekend.

The Warner Bros. animation, which stars Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill and Will Ferrell, has scored the highest-grossing film of 2014 so far in the UK after triumphing over George Clooney's The Monuments Men, grossing just over £8 million.

The film also shot straight to No.1 at the US box office this month, cruising past the $100 million mark on Saturday, meaning it should reach a total of around $140 million by Monday after only 10 days in theaters.