Box office Encanto grossed $96.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $160.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $256.5 million. Factoring in both the film's production budget and marketing expenses, along with the theaters' share of revenues,
Encanto was estimated to need to gross at least $300 million worldwide to
break even. Nevertheless, the film went viral over the 2021
holiday season and achieved wider commercial success after its digital release to Disney+ on December 24, 2021. In the United States and Canada, it was released alongside
House of Gucci and
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and originally projected to gross $35–40 million from 3,980 theaters in its five-day opening weekend. It opened nationwide on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 (the day before American
Thanksgiving), and made $7.5 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Tuesday night previews. It went on to make $40.6 million in its first five days. Of the 3.7 million moviegoers who saw it, 52% were Latino and Hispanic, 51% were families, and 62% were female. Though its five-day opening gross was lower than Pixar's
The Good Dinosaur (2015) ($55.4 million), which failed at the box office in 2015,
Encanto had the best opening weekend for an animated film during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its second weekend, it made $13.1 million, less than the second-weekend results of
The Good Dinosaur ($15.3 million) and
Tangled (2010) ($21.6 million) but higher than
The Princess and the Frog (2009) ($12.1 million). It went on to finish in second place in its third and fourth weekends, earning $10 million and $6.5 million, respectively. In its fifth weekend, it made $1.8 million and dropped to ninth place at the box office. In its sixth weekend, it finished in tenth place with $1.08 million. It dropped out of the box office top ten in its seventh weekend, finishing eleventh with $613,501. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, it made $29.3 million from 47 markets in its opening weekend. The top countries in its first five days were France ($3.5 million), Colombia ($2.6 million), the UK ($2.4 million), Korea ($2.2 million), and Italy ($2.1 million). It earned $20.7 million in its second weekend and $13.6 million in its third. In its fourth weekend, it became Colombia's second-highest-grossing animated film of all time. In its fifth weekend, it crossed the $100 million mark outside the U.S. and Canada. It earned $3.5 million in its sixth weekend, $5.8 million in its seventh, and $3.6 million in its eighth. As of January 9, 2022, its largest markets are France ($18.5 million), Colombia ($10.2 million), the UK ($8.8 million), Spain ($7.3 million), and Japan ($6.6 million). On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, of critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of . The website's consensus reads, "
Encanto setting and cultural perspective are new for Disney, but the end result is the same – enchanting, beautifully animated fun for the whole family."
Metacritic, which uses a
weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those at
PostTrak gave it an 88% positive score, with 70% saying they would definitely recommend it. The film's animation, which journalists considered beautiful, was a source of plaudits. Writing for
Good Morning America,
Peter Travers deemed the visuals of
Encanto miraculous, while Shreemayee Das of
Firstpost described the animation as having spellbinding intricacy.
Variety Owen Gleiberman gave acclaim, saying "
Encanto has been visualized with a vivacious naturalistic glow (swirling flower petals, eye-candy pastels) that, at moments, is nearly psychedelic". David Rooney from
The Hollywood Reporter highlighted the film's colors and the designs of the costumes, natural settings, and Casita for particular praise. For
IndieWire, Kristen Lopez lauded the visuals as stunning and life-like.
IGN Andrea Towers called the animation beautiful.
The Daily Telegraph film critic
Robbie Collin was particularly amazed: "
Encanto animation is dazzling in all sorts of ways, with technical effects and flights of creative fancy that would have been unimaginable even a year ago, particularly during the musical numbers." Critics found the film's songs "spellbinding". For
Chicago Sun-Times and the
Daily Herald, respectively, Richard Roeper and Dann Gire described the music as "infectious and instantly memorable", and "emotionally distilled [and] verbally nimble";
The Detroit News writer Adam Graham agreed, commenting that the songs "lift [
Encanto] to the sky". Similarly,
The Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz regarded them as the film's peak.
CNN writer Brian Lowry shared a similar view. Nevertheless, many journalists found fault with the music, such as
National Review Kyle Smith, who called it "thuddingly mediocre". Though he found the songs "breezy and fun", Christian Holub of
Entertainment Weekly deemed them unmemorable. Writing for
Bleeding Cool, Kaitlyn Booth believed the music was "[no]thing particularly special" and that a lack of songs would have benefited the film. Reviewers singled out
Encanto representation and diversity for particular praise. Writing for
The Guardian, Simran Hans found the awareness of culturally unique
generational trauma and displacement intriguing and surprising. Despite being critical of a perceived disguise of cultural representation, Rafael Matomayor of
The New York Observer stated that "when the film dives into the specificity of its portrayal of Colombia[,] ... it becomes an exciting, nuanced, complex magical realist adventure" that propels Disney into "a new era".
The Independent Clarissa Loughgrey highlighted that the cultural specificity was more than simple aesthetic or linguistic references, commending the incorporation of magical realism and various skin tones. Whelan Barzel of
Time Out summarized the film as a "genuine love letter to the diversity of Latin America". Reviews with regards to the film's portrayal of family dynamics deemed the aspect one of its strengths. Preston Barra of
Denton Record-Chronicle named the message of family a contributing factor to the film becoming a "must-see family event"; fellow journalist Matt Goldberg, who writes for
Collider, commended the message of "[being] enough because family is enough".
Polygon Petrana Radulovic found the familial interactions stunningly realistic and strengthened by magical metaphors. Many critics also acclaimed
Encanto emotional depth.
The A.V. Club Caroline Siede lauded the depiction of intergenerational trauma. According to
Screen International critic Tim Greierson, when the directors concentrate on the script's underlying emotions, the film is extremely moving. Writing for
CinemaBlend, Dirk Libbey opined that every audience member would eventually cry once they discovered which character they identified with most.
MovieWeb singled out Mirabel's search for acceptance and a purpose, stating "[b]uckets of tears are going to be shed". Regarding "Disney's regular formula",
Encanto divided reviewers; some thought that it departed from the formula well.
Forbes Scott Mendelson called the film "terrifically unconventional", while
World critic Collin Garbarino highlighted several aspects that he recognized as deviating from the formula; such as a lack of princesses and villains, as well as the focus on community.
Vulture Bilge Ebiri attributed the film's enchanting qualities to the "smaller-scale narrative". He explained that when the Madrigals' inner journey is combined with the typical "Disney spectacle", it becomes an unexpected, "downright
Sirkian power". Others found it too similar to other Disney films. For
Pittsburgh Magazine, Sean Collier felt the film was "just another by-the-numbers Disney flick", while
Peter Bradshaw from
The Guardian thought that the story "wants to have its metaphorical cake and eat it", deeming it contrived.
:/Film Josh Spiegel thought
Encanto included a mixture of formulaic aspects from many of the previous Disney and Pixar films, and failed to make them unnoticeable. Some critics found the story unfocused. The
Irish Independent Paul Whittington considered the plot "too aimless, to satisfy anyone for long". Alice Forman of
Mashable concurred and felt several parts of Mirabel's journey were arbitrary; she had a particularly negative opinion of the film's middle section, which she called tedious.
The Globe and Mail writer Aparita Bhandari asserted the internal, rather than external, source of conflict and several unanswered questions confused her, preventing her from immersing herself in the film. From
USA Today, Brian Truitt expressed his disappointment in the
third act, which he said misses
Encanto focal point. David Lynch, writing for
KENS, agreed, and stated the act was weak due to an underdeveloped relationship between Mirabel and Alma, as well as clumsy writing. Multiple critics also cited the film's lack of villains as a detractor. Metacritic reported that
Encanto appeared in five critic top-ten lists, including
CNN and
New York Daily News non-ranked lists, and
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ranking (ninth). The film has also appeared on several lists of the best animated films of 2021, including those by
Paste (tenth), Rotten Tomatoes (sixth),
Screen Rant (non-ranked),
MovieWeb (fifth),
Vulture (non-ranked), and
Comic Book Resources (sixth).
Variety,
IndieWire,
Gold Derby,
Entertainment Weekly,
The Hollywood Reporter,
Den of Geek, and the
Los Angeles Times named the film the most likely to win the
Academy Award for
Best Animated Feature, which was ultimately the case. Pamila Avila, writing for
USA Today, underscored that
Encanto is Disney's first feature with an all-
Latin American cast, capturing "the complicated tug and pull between older and younger generations in
Hispanic families." Roughly 25% of viewership comes from Hispanic households, while 40% of viewers are between the ages of 2 and 11.
Billboard writer Leila Cobo said, following the success of Colombian musicians like
Shakira,
Maluma and
J Balvin in the U.S., Colombia is "finally seen and not just heard" via
Encanto. Cobo praised the film for not homogenizing all of the
Latin American countries in the manner U.S. media has generally been, instead accurately depicting the culture unique to Colombia: "from accents to outfits to minute details like the hand-painted tableware, the embroidered dresses, the food, the many colors of our skin, even the animals – including the ubiquitous
toucan and the yellow butterflies that are synonymous with
García Márquez." Johanna Ferreira of
PopSugar wrote that the success of both
Encanto and its soundtrack speaks to "not just the importance and significance of this type of representation in animated films, but also how movies like this are really changing how Latino stories are being told." She stated
Encanto celebrates the importance of family and respect for
Latin American culture, featuring "animated stories about Latinos written by Latinos, with characters voiced by Latinos, and a storyline that actually celebrates Latino communities rather than
stereotype [Latino]." Mikael Wood of
Los Angeles Times stated
Encanto became "2022's first widespread cultural phenomenon", bolstered by its unique direction and music. Various social media trends surrounding
Encanto had "people posting videos of their children recognizing themselves for perhaps the first time in the movie's characters." Luisa's physical appearance has been praised for representing muscular women—a departure from Disney's conventionally "feminine" depiction of female protagonists as "small and skinny". As of January 23, 2022, the videos tagged with the hashtag "#encanto" have collectively amassed more than 11.5 billion views on
TikTok. The film's characters and their dynamics have fueled a discourse among
mental health specialists, many of whom reported that their clients, especially
first-generation children of immigrants, "see themselves reflected" in the story of
Encanto and use the film to communicate "about things that otherwise might go unsaid." Mirabel, Isabela, Luisa, Alma and Bruno have been the most discussed characters, with Bruno being associated with
neurodivergent family members. Speaking to
CNN,
psychotherapist Kadesha Adelakun stated "there are so many layers" to
Encanto, portraying issues "many families are going through."
Accolades At the
94th Academy Awards,
Encanto received nominations for
Best Original Score and
Best Original Song, and won
Best Animated Feature. The film won three awards at the
65th Annual Grammy Awards in the visual media categories:
Best Score Soundtrack,
Best Compilation Soundtrack, and
Best Song ("
We Don't Talk About Bruno").
Encanto other nominations include nine
Annie Awards (winning three), a
British Academy Film Award (which it won), two
Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and three
Golden Globe Awards (winning one). It also won the
National Board of Review Award for Best Animated Film. == Other media ==