''Finding Dory'' is a 2016 American animated
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
adventure film
The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...
produced by
Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...
for
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...
. It was directed by
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is best known as the director and co-writer of the Pixar animated films ''Finding Nemo'' (2003), ''WALL-E'' (2008), ''Finding Dory'' (2016), and the upcoming ''Toy Story 5 ...
, co-directed by
Angus MacLane
Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American animator, filmmaker and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios. He co-directed the film ''Finding Dory'' (2016) and made his solo feature directorial debut with t ...
, produced by Lindsey Collins, and written by Stanton and Victoria Strouse. The film is both a sequel and spin-off following the events of ''
Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...
'' (2003).
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer.
She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...
and
Albert Brooks reprise their roles from the first film, with
Hayden Rolence (replacing
Alexander Gould),
Ed O'Neill,
Kaitlin Olson,
Ty Burrell,
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (née Hall; born January 5, 1946) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Diane Keaton, various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, a Bri ...
and
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and ...
joining the cast. The film focuses on the
amnesiac fish Dory (DeGeneres), who journeys to be reunited with her parents (Keaton and Levy).
Disney planned to make a sequel to ''Finding Nemo'' since 2005, tasking its new studio
Circle Seven Animation after disagreements with Pixar. Though it never went into production, a script was uploaded to the official
Raindance Film Festival
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove ...
website that includes elements of the unmade script. Disney's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006 led to the cancellation of Circle Seven's version of the film. A Pixar-made sequel was announced in April 2013 as the schedule for a November 2015 release. The fictional Marine Life Institute depicted extensively in the film is based on the production team's research trips to the
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in Octob ...
,
the Marine Mammal Center and the
Vancouver Aquarium.
Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for his film scores, earning accolades of six Grammy Award, Grammy Awards, an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award, two British Academy F ...
returned to compose the score.
''Finding Dory'' premiered at the
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entert ...
in Los Angeles on June 8, 2016, and was released in theaters in the United States on June 17. It received widespread praise from critics, like its predecessor, for its animation, emotional weight, voice acting and humor. The film earned $1.029 billion worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the
third-highest-grossing film of 2016 and the
fourth-highest-grossing animated film at the time. It set numerous box office records, including the
biggest opening for an animated film in Canada and the United States and the
highest-grossing animated film in Canada and the United States. The film received a win at the
2017 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Animated Movie.
Plot
Dory, the
regal blue tang, gets separated from her parents, Jenny and Charlie, as a child. As she grows up, she gradually forgets them due to her short-term memory loss. She eventually meets and joins the
clownfish Marlin, looking for his son, Nemo, who was taken by divers to
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia.
One year after meeting Marlin and Nemo, Dory lives with them in their
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...
as their next-door neighbor. One day, she remembers her parents and that they lived at the "Jewel of
Morro Bay, California". She embarks on a journey to find them again and Marlin and Nemo accompany her.
With the help of Crush, their
sea turtle
Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...
friend, they ride the
California Current to California. Dory accidentally awakens a
giant squid that almost devours Nemo. Worried, she leaves to look for help and is captured by staff members from the Marine Life Institute.
Dory is placed in quarantine and tagged. She meets a brusque but well-meaning seven-legged
octopus
An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...
named Hank. Dory's tag marks her for transfer to an aquarium in
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. Hank, who fears being released back into the ocean, agrees to help her find her parents in exchange for her tag. In one exhibit, Dory encounters Bailey, a
beluga whale, and her childhood friend Destiny, a
nearsighted whale shark
The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...
, who used to communicate with Dory through the pipes as kids. She finally remembers how she was separated from her parents: she was accidentally pulled away by an
undertow current into the pipes and out into the ocean.
Meanwhile, Marlin and Nemo attempt to save Dory. With the help of a pair of
California sea lion
The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of Califo ...
s and a
common loon
The common loon or great northern diver (''Gavia immer'') is a large member of the loon, or diver, family (biology), family of birds. Reproduction, Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purpli ...
named Becky, they get into the institute and find her. Other blue tangs tell them that Dory's parents escaped years ago to search for her and never came back, leading Dory to believe that they are dead. Hank unintentionally drops Dory into the drain, flushing her out to the ocean. She comes across a trail of shells; remembering that her parents would set out similar shell trails to help her find her way back home, she follows it to a tire, where she reunites with her parents. They tell her they stayed close to home and spent years laying down the shell trails for her in the hope that she would eventually find them again.
Marlin, Nemo, and Hank end up in a truck taking various aquatic creatures to Cleveland. Destiny and Bailey escape from their exhibit to help Dory rescue them. On board the truck, Dory persuades Hank to return to the sea with her, and together, they hijack the truck and crash it into the sea, freeing all the fish. Dory, along with her parents and new friends, returns to the reef with Marlin and Nemo, whom she now considers family, and they all settle into a new life together.
In a
post-credits scene
A post-credits scene (also known as a stinger, end tag, or credit cookie) is a short teaser clip that appears after the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV show, or video game has run. It is usually ...
, the Tank Gang, still trapped inside their plastic bags, now covered with algae, reach California after floating across the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
for more than a year. To their dismay, they are picked up by staff members from the Marine Life Institute.
Voice cast
*
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer.
She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...
as
Dory, a
regal blue tang, who suffers from short-term memory loss.
** Sloane Murray as young Dory. Murray is the seven-year-old daughter of producer Lindsey Collins.
** Lucia Geddes as teenage Dory.
*
Albert Brooks as Marlin, an
ocellaris clownfish
The ocellaris clownfish (''Amphiprion ocellaris''), also known as the false percula clownfish or common clownfish, is a marine fish belonging to the family (biology), family Pomacentridae, which includes clownfishes and damselfishes. ''Amphiprion ...
, Nemo's overprotective father and Dory's best friend.
*
Hayden Rolence as Nemo, a young optimistic
clownfish who is Marlin's son.
*
Ed O'Neill as Hank, a grumpy, but well-meaning
East Pacific red octopus, who is called a "septopus", having lost a tentacle.
*
Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a
nearsighted whale shark
The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...
who was Dory's childhood friend.
*
Ty Burrell as Bailey, a
beluga whale, who temporarily lost
echolocation due to a concussion.
*
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (née Hall; born January 5, 1946) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Diane Keaton, various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, a Bri ...
as Jenny, Dory's mother.
*
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and ...
as Charlie, Dory's father.
*
Idris Elba as Fluke, a
California sea lion
The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of Califo ...
who is Rudder's friend.
*
Dominic West as Rudder, a California sea lion who is Fluke's friend.
*
Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a
spotted eagle ray who is Nemo's schoolteacher.
*
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is best known as the director and co-writer of the Pixar animated films ''Finding Nemo'' (2003), ''WALL-E'' (2008), ''Finding Dory'' (2016), and the upcoming ''Toy Story 5 ...
as Crush, a
green sea turtle
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...
.
*
Sigourney Weaver
Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...
as herself, who voices the recorded messages broadcast over the institute's public address system.
*
Bill Hader as Stan, a
kelp bass and Inez's husband.
*
Kate McKinnon as Inez, Stan's wife.
*
Alexander Gould as Passenger Carl, a delivery truck driver who works for the institute. Gould previously voiced Nemo in ''Finding Nemo''.
* Torbin Xan Bullock as Gerald, a California sea lion, who wants to lie on the rock occupied by Fluke and Rudder only to be constantly repelled by them.
* Katherine Ringgold as Kathy, a chickenfish.
* Bennett Dammann as Squirt, Crush's son. He was previously voiced by
Nicholas Bird in ''Finding Nemo''.
*
John Ratzenberger as Husband Crab (Bill)
*
Angus MacLane
Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American animator, filmmaker and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios. He co-directed the film ''Finding Dory'' (2016) and made his solo feature directorial debut with t ...
as
Sunfish "Charlie Back-and-Forth"
*
Willem Dafoe as Gill, a
Moorish idol and the leader of the "Tank Gang".
*
Brad Garrett as Bloat, a
pufferfish.
*
Allison Janney as Peach, a
starfish
Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...
.
*
Austin Pendleton
Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor.
Pendleton is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen, whose six-decade career has included roles in films i ...
as Gurgle, a
royal gramma.
*
Stephen Root as Bubbles, a
yellow tang.
*
Vicki Lewis
Vicki Lewis (born March 17, 1960) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Beth in the NBC sitcom ''NewsRadio''. She is also well known for her roles as Deb and Flo in ''Finding Nemo'' and '' Finding Dory'', April Smu ...
as Deb, a
four-striped damselfish.
*
Jerome Ranft as Jacques, a
cleaner shrimp
Cleaner shrimp is a common name for a number of swimming Decapoda, decapod crustaceans that clean other organisms of parasites. Most are found in the family (biology), families Hippolytidae (including the Pacific cleaner shrimp, ''Lysmata amboi ...
. He was originally voiced by
Joe Ranft, Jerome's late brother, in ''Finding Nemo''.
Production
Prior to work on ''Finding Dory'', Disney had planned to make a ''Finding Nemo'' sequel without Pixar's involvement, through
Circle Seven Animation, a studio Disney announced in 2005 with the intention to make sequels to Pixar properties. However, due to the 2006 acquisition of Pixar by Disney, Circle Seven was shut down by Disney without having produced a film. Although it never went into production, a script for the Circle Seven version was uploaded to the official
Raindance Film Festival
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove ...
website. Elements of the unmade script included the introduction of Nemo's long-lost twin brother, Remy, and a storyline wherein Marlin is caught and must be saved.

In July 2012,
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is best known as the director and co-writer of the Pixar animated films ''Finding Nemo'' (2003), ''WALL-E'' (2008), ''Finding Dory'' (2016), and the upcoming ''Toy Story 5 ...
was announced as the director of a ''Finding Nemo'' sequel, with Victoria Strouse writing the script.
That same month, Stanton examined the veracity of the news involving the potential sequel. That August,
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer.
She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...
had entered negotiations to reprise her role of Dory, and in September, the film was confirmed by Stanton, saying: "What was immediately on the list was writing a second ''
Carter'' movie. When that went away, everything slid up. I know I'll be accused by more sarcastic people that it's a reaction to ''Carter'' not doing well, but only in its timing, but not in its conceit." In February 2013, it was confirmed by the press that
Albert Brooks would reprise the role of Marlin in the sequel.
In April 2013, Disney announced the sequel, ''Finding Dory'', confirming that DeGeneres and Brooks would be reprising their roles as Dory and Marlin, respectively.
Following a long campaign for a sequel on ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...
'', DeGeneres stated:
In a July 2013 interview with ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', Stanton spoke of the sequel's origin: "There was polite inquiry from Disney
bout a ''Finding Nemo'' sequel I was always 'No sequels, no sequels.' But I had to get on board from a
VP standpoint.
equelsare part of the necessity of our staying afloat, but we don't want to have to go there for those reasons. We want to go there creatively, so we said
o Disney 'Can you give us the timeline about when we release them? Because we'd like to release something we actually want to make, and we might not come up with it the year you want it.
In a 2016 interview, Stanton stated how the film's story came to be; "I don't watch my films that often after they're done because I have to watch them so many times before they come out. So about 2010 when we were getting ''Finding Nemo'' ready for the 10-year re-release in 3D, it was interesting to watch again after all that time. Something kind of got lodged in the back of my brain and started to sort of stew. I started to think about how easily Dory could get lost and not find Marlin and Nemo again. She basically was in the same state that she was when Marlin found her. I didn't know where she was from. I knew that she had spent most of her youth wandering the ocean alone, and I wanted to know that she could find her new family, if she ever got lost again. It's almost like the parental side of me was worried." Stanton additionally stated: "I knew if I ever said ''Finding Dory'' or mentioned a sequel to ''Finding Nemo'' out loud, I'd be done,
ere would be no way I'd be able to put that horse back in the barn. So I kept it very quiet until I knew I had a story that I thought would hold, and that was in early 2012. So I pitched it to
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter ( ; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, a ...
and he was all into it. Then I got a writer, and once we had a treatment that we kind of liked, I felt comfortable calling Ellen."

Stanton selected Victoria Strouse to write the screenplay. She later said, "It was always collaborative with Andrew, but really the screenwriting was me. Of course, Andrew would do passes, and he and I would brainstorm a lot together and then we would bring it to the group of story artists. People would weigh in and share ideas."
She pointed to Dory's forgetfulness as a challenge when writing the script, adding, "You don't realize until you sit down to write a character who can't remember things how integral memory is to absolutely everything we do, and that's what creates a narrative that people can follow. When a main character can't self-reflect and can't tell a story, that character is very difficult to design because she can't really lead. To get her to be able to lead and to get an audience to be able to trust her was the hardest thing to do."
The fictional Marine Life Institute depicted extensively in the film is based on the production team's research trips to the
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in Octob ...
,
the Marine Mammal Center and the
Vancouver Aquarium.
The film's ending was revised after Pixar executives viewed ''
Blackfish'', a 2013 documentary film which focuses on the dangers of keeping
orca whales in captivity. Initially, some of the characters were to end up in a
SeaWorld-like marine park, but the revision gave them an option to leave.
Angus MacLane
Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American animator, filmmaker and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios. He co-directed the film ''Finding Dory'' (2016) and made his solo feature directorial debut with t ...
was one of the first people to whom Stanton revealed his idea for the sequel. Together, with
Bob Peterson, they discussed about different ideas for places Dory would visit during her journey — one of those ideas was the touch pool sequence. Later, during the ''
Brave'' (2012) wrap party, Stanton invited MacLane to join him in his first co-directing duty. Stanton described MacLane's role as a "jack of all trades", particularly utilizing his experience in animation and story, as well as in production, having created a few short films himself.
In August 2015, at Disney's
D23 Expo, it was announced that
Hayden Rolence would voice Nemo, replacing
Alexander Gould from the first film, whose voice had deepened since reaching adulthood (Gould voiced a minor character in the sequel instead).
At the D23 expo they also announced that
Ed O'Neill would be the voice of Hank.
To make the light more realistic,
RenderMan The name RenderMan can cause confusion because it has been used to refer to different things developed by Pixar Animation Studios:
* RenderMan Interface Specification (RISpec), an open API
An application programming interface (API) is a connec ...
was completely re-engineered, its biggest change in 25 years.
Music
The film's soundtrack was composed and conducted by
Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for his film scores, earning accolades of six Grammy Award, Grammy Awards, an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award, two British Academy F ...
and released on June 17, 2016.
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
's version of "
What a Wonderful World" is played during the scene in which fish are released into the ocean as the truck Dory and Hank are driving crashes into the water.
On May 20, 2016,
Sia performed a cover of
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...
's "
Unforgettable" on ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...
'' following an announcement that it would be featured in the film.
Release
Theatrical
''Finding Dory'' premiered on June 8, 2016, at the
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entert ...
in Los Angeles. The film was initially scheduled for release on November 25, 2015,
but was later pushed back to June 17, 2016, with ''
The Good Dinosaur'' taking its slot. In theaters, ''Finding Dory'' was accompanied by a short film, ''
Piper'' (2016). The film was re-released for
Labor Day Weekend on September 2.
Home media
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, a ...
released ''Finding Dory'' for
digital release on October 25, 2016, and on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
(2D and 3D) and
DVD on November 15.
Physical copies contain behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and two shorts: ''Piper'' and ''Marine Life Interviews''; it featured interviews with the inhabitants of the Marine Life Institute about their encounters with Dory.
The film made a revenue of $91.5 million from home media sales with 5.5 million units sold, making it the second best-selling title of 2016 behind ''
Star Wars: The Force Awakens''. ''Finding Dory'' was released on
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 10, 2019.
Reception
Box office
''Finding Dory'' earned $486.3 million in the United States and Canada and $542.3 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $1.029 billion.
It was the
third-highest-grossing film of 2016 and the
fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. It had a worldwide opening of $185.7 million, which is the
sixth-biggest of all time for an animated film, and an IMAX global opening of $6.4 million.
On August 16, it earned $900million in ticket sales, and on October 9, it passed the $1billion threshold.
''
Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...
'' calculated the film's net profit as $296.6 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it fourth on their list of 2016's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".
North America
The film was released with ''
Central Intelligence'' on June 17, 2016, in 4,305 theaters: 3,200 in 3D, approximately 100 in IMAX, and 425 in premium large format. ''Finding Dory'' earned $55million on its first day,
including $9.2million from Thursday night previews—a record for both Pixar and any animated film. It was
Fandango
Fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple metre, triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is u ...
's top pre-selling animated film of all time, outselling the previous record-holder, ''
Minions'' (2015). The film debuted earning $135.1million, a record for the highest opening weekend for an animated film, which was 93.8% above ''Finding Nemo''s $70.3 million debut.
''Finding Dory'' also had the second-highest June opening weekend, behind ''
Jurassic World''. It further broke the record for the biggest PLF and
Cinemark XD opening for an animated film with $10.4 million and $2.6 million, respectively. In IMAX, it made $5 million from 211 theaters,
the third-best animated IMAX opening behind ''Zootopia'' ($5.2 million) and ''Toy Story 3'' ($8.4 million).
Following its record-breaking openings, it scored the biggest Monday for Pixar by grossing $19.6 million (breaking ''Toy Story 3''s $15.6 million) and the best Monday in June for an animated film. However, among all animated films, it is ranked second—behind 2004's ''
Shrek 2'', which made $23.4 million on its first Monday, and it is also the biggest Tuesday for an animated film with $23.2 million, besting ''Minions'' $16.8 million. It jumped 18.5% over its Monday gross, a rare achievement for a film. It crossed the $200 million mark in its first seven days, becoming the first (and fastest) animated film to pass this milestone in just a week. It fell only 46% in its
second weekend earning $73 million to record the biggest second weekend for an animated film (breaking ''Shrek 2''s $72.2 million previous record), the biggest for Disney and 2016 (surpassing ''
Captain America: Civil War''s $72.6 million), and the
eighth-biggest second weekend gross of all time overall. This was despite facing stiff competition from newcomer ''
Independence Day: Resurgence''. It crossed $300 million in 12 days—a new record for an animated film, surpassing the previous record held by ''Shrek 2'' and ''Toy Story 3'' (both of which took 18 days), and became the second animated film of 2016 (after ''Zootopia''), the fourth Disney film of 2016, and the sixth overall film of the year to cross the milestone. It continued to dominate the box office for the third straight weekend, despite competitions from three new wide releases—''
The Legend of Tarzan'', ''
The Purge: Election Year'', and fellow Disney release ''
The BFG''—after witnessing a 42% decline to $41.8 million in three days and $51.4 million in four days, respectively, during the
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
holiday frame.
This made it the second time in two years and just the third time since 1992, the July 4 holiday box office was topped by a film in its third weekend of release. It broke another record as it passed the $400 million mark in 21 days, which is the fastest for an animated film, the fastest of 2016, the fastest for the studio, and the fifth-fastest of all time overall. Moreover, it became the second film of 2016 (after ''Captain America: Civil War''), the fifth animated film, the ninth film for the studio, and the twenty-fourth film overall to pass the milestone. On the following day (July 8), it became the highest-grossing film of the year in the United States and Canada. It dropped out of the top ten in its eighth week.
Although the film was finally overtaken by ''
The Secret Life of Pets'' (and ''The Legend of Tarzan'' in second place) in its fourth weekend, it nevertheless passed ''
The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...
'' to become the highest-grossing Disney animated film of all time in the same weekend, surpassing the latter which held the record for 15 non-consecutive years. In just 30 days, it overtook ''Shrek 2'' ($441.2 million) to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, breaking the latter's record of 12 years.
Four days later, on July 20, it became the first-ever animated film in cinematic history to cross the $450 million mark. As with its predecessor ''Finding Nemo'', the studio expanded the theater count for the film during Labor Day Weekend from 345 to 2,075.
Outside North America
Worldwide, ''Finding Dory'' received a staggered release in a span of four months from June to September, with Germany being the last country. This was done in order to take advantage of key holidays and competitive dates around the world.
It made an estimated $50.7million in its opening weekend in 29 countries.
In its second weekend, it added $38.7 million from 37 markets, falling in third place behind ''Independence Day: Resurgence'' and ''
Now You See Me 2
''Now You See Me 2'' (also known as ''Now You See Me: The Second Act'') is a 2016 American heist film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Ed Solomon, based on a story by Solomon and Peter Chiarelli. It is the sequel to '' Now You See Me'' ( ...
''.
In the same weekend along with its $73 million take in North America, the film helped Pixar cross the $10 billion mark worldwide since ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...
'' (1995).
By its fourth weekend, the animated film helped Disney push past the $3 billion mark internationally and $5 billion globally.
It had the biggest opening for an animated film in Brazil ($7.1 million) and the Netherlands ($2.1 million),
and the biggest of all time for a Disney animated or Pixar film in Australia ($7.7 million), the Philippines ($2.1 million), Singapore ($1.3 million), India ($1 million), Indonesia, Peru and Central America, and in Russia it opened with $3.2 million,
and the second-biggest in the United Kingdom and Ireland ($10.7 million), Mexico ($9.4 million) and Argentina ($3.5 million), and Colombia ($2.1 million), behind ''
Monsters University''.
In the UK and Ireland, the film recorded the second-biggest animated opening of the year with £8.1 million ($10.7 million) from 580 theaters, behind only ''The Secret Life of Pets''. However, if previews are excluded, ''Finding Dory'' is ahead. Moreover, it also posted the second-biggest Disney/Pixar opening, behind only ''Toy Story 3'' (fourth-biggest if previews are included), and the seventh-biggest animated opening of all time overall based on pure Friday-to-Sunday gross alone.
It added an additional 43 theaters in its second weekend, after which it added another £3.98 million ($5.1 million) at the weekend, thereby passing the £20 million mark in just 10 days (among Pixar films, only ''Toy Story 3'' reached £20 million faster). It made an impressive £8.15 million during weekdays, from Monday to Thursday resulting in a £2.03 million daily-average gross. According to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', this was because of the school holidays that prevailed on the weekdays. Otherwise, family films earn the vast majority of their takings on Saturday and Sunday, and showtimes typically reduce on weekdays. It returned to the top of the box office in its fourth weekend and went on to become the highest-grossing film of the summer that year. In Brazil, in addition to recording the biggest Disney/Pixar opening ever, almost twice the previous record held by ''
The Good Dinosaur'', it also set a new record for an all-time animated opening, on par with ''Minions'' in local currency.
In South Korea, it had the biggest opening for a Pixar film with $7.1 million, which is also the second-biggest for a Disney animated film, behind ''Frozen''.
In Japan, the film had a two-day weekend opening of $7 million on Saturday and Sunday from 511 screens on 571,000 admissions. For the entire three-day holiday weekend, including
Marine Day
, also known as "Ocean Day" or "Sea Day", is a public holiday in Japan usually celebrated on the third Monday in July. The purpose of the holiday is to give thanks for the ocean's bounty and to consider the importance of the ocean to Japan as a ...
on Monday July 18, the film earned $11 million on 922,000 admissions. This made it the top western release of the weekend and the biggest foreign opening-weekend in the country of that year.
It had further number-one openings in Spain ($4.9 million), France ($4.7 million), Hong Kong ($1.9 million; $2.8 million including previews), Taiwan ($1.9 million), Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
It topped the box office in the Netherlands for three
and in Spain and Australia for four consecutive weekends.
In Italy, it scored the biggest animated opening of the year with $5.8 million.
In China, where Pixar films have been struggling to find broad audiences and accrue lucrative revenues, the film was projected to make around $30 million in its opening weekend.
The film ended up grossing $17.7 million—the biggest Pixar opening in the country's history—debuting in second place behind ''
Warcraft''.
It surpassed ''Monsters University'' in just seven days to become the biggest Pixar film there with $38.1 million.
It opened in Germany—its last market—on September 29, where the film delivered a robust opening of $8.4 million, the biggest for any film of 2016 in the country. The film continued to benefit from
German Unity Day on October 3.
It went on to top the box office there for three straight weekends, tying with ''
Inferno'' in its third weekend.
It is now the highest-grossing Disney animated or Pixar film in Australia (where it is also the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time behind ''Shrek 2''), Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Colombia, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, and Trinidad.
It also became the second-highest-grossing Pixar release of all time in South Korea behind ''
Inside Out''. Elsewhere, the film's top international markets were Japan ($66 million), followed by the UK ($56.3 million), China ($38.1 million), Australia ($36.3 million), and Brazil ($34.5 million).
Critical response
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, ''Finding Dory'' holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . Its critical consensus reads, "Funny, poignant, and thought-provoking, ''Finding Dory'' delivers a beautifully animated adventure that adds another entertaining chapter to its predecessor's classic story."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned ''Finding Dory'' a score of 77 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale,
and
PostTrak reported a 91% overall positive score and an 81% "definite recommend" among kids.
Mike Ryan of ''
Uproxx
Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...
'' wrote, "I never thought I wanted a sequel to ''Finding Nemo'', but here we are and I'm pretty happy it exists. And, for me, it was a more emotional experience than the first film. ''Finding Dory'' got me—it made me cry."
A. O. Scott of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' said that while the film lacks "dazzling originality", it still has "warmth, charm and good humor". In his review for ''
Variety'', Owen Gleiberman wrote, "It's a film that spills over with laughs (most of them good, a few of them shticky) and tears (all of them earned), supporting characters who are meant to slay us (and mostly do) with their irascible sharp tongues, and dizzyingly extended flights of physical comedy."
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern (born October 3, 1932) is an American writer and retired film critic. He wrote for ''Newsweek'' from 1965 to 1983, and then for ''The Wall Street Journal'' from 1995 to 2022. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2005. Morge ...
of ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' said that "''Finding Dory'' can be touching, sweet and tender, but it's compulsively, preposterously and steadfastly funny."
Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and said that the film "brims with humor, heart and animation miracles", despite lacking "the fresh surprise of its predecessor". Wendy Ide of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' wrote that the film "reprises the central motif of ''Finding Nemo'': that of the enduring parent-child bond, and the special embrace of family, in all its permutations", but added: "it is approached with such charm and warmth that it hardly matters that the two films share such similar arcs."
Todd McCarthy of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote, "Its heroine may suffer from short-term memory loss, but viewers with any memory at all will realize that ''Finding Dory'' falls rather short of its wondrous progenitor." Writing for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', Kenneth Turan said that, "As the 13-year gap between ''Nemo'' and ''Dory'' indicates, this was not a concept that cried out to be made."
Armond White of ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...
'' wrote: "For anyone who is not a legally bound babysitter, ''Finding Dory'' offers nothing that will please a taste for finer humor, freer fun, or genuinely expressive filmmaking."
Environmental controversies and issues
Conservationists warned that, very much like ''
Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...
'', the film could lead to uninformed customers buying
regal blue tang fish, Dory's species, for home aquariums. Blue tangs cannot be bred in captivity and have to be caught in the wild. They are related to
surgeonfish and exhibit razor-sharp spines on both sides of the tail that can inflict formidable wounds.
While promoting the film, actress Ellen DeGeneres reminded audiences that Nemo and Dory's real-life home, the
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
, is under enormous threat, mostly due to
coral bleaching
Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to loss of Symbiosis, symbiotic algae and Photosynthesis, photosynthetic pigments. This loss of pigment can be caused by various stressors, such as changes in water temperature, light, ...
, a process induced by
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
, which has killed
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...
s on an enormous scale.
In 2019, researchers from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States published a scientific paper showing that imports of blue tangs to the US did not increase after release of the film, but internet searches for the species did increase.
Accolades
Possible sequel
Discussions of a sequel began in June 2016, as Stanton announced his intent to have approaches to
worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world or setting (narrative), setting, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing the world with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, culture and ecology is a k ...
across sequels similar to the
''Toy Story'' franchise, given the introduction of new characters.
In May 2024, Pixar CCO
Pete Docter
Peter Hans Docter (born October 9, 1968) is an American filmmaker and animator, who has served as chief creative officer (CCO) of Pixar since 2018. He has directed the company's animated films ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001), ''Up (2009 film), Up'' ( ...
suggested that the studio was considering making a third installment in the ''Finding Nemo'' franchise. He stated "Where else have we not gone in the ocean? The ocean's a big place. I think there's a lot of opportunity there. We're kind of fishing around." In July 2024, while in the middle of her final tour entitled "Ellen's Last Stand...Up", DeGeneres answered in a Q&A session that her
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
special later that year would be her last act in show business. When asked if she would reprise the role of Dory again, DeGeneres responded "No, I’m going bye-bye, remember."
See also
*
''Finding Nemo'' (franchise)
Notes
References
External links
* at Disney
* at Pixar
*
*
{{#invoke:Authority control, authorityControl
2010s adventure comedy films
2016 American animated films
2010s children's adventure films
2010s children's animated films
2010s children's comedy films
2010s English-language films
2016 3D films
2016 computer-animated films
American 3D films
American adventure comedy films
American buddy comedy films
American children's animated adventure films
American children's animated comedy films
American computer-animated films
American nonlinear narrative films
American sequel films
Animated buddy films
Animated films about fish
Films about amnesia
Films directed by Andrew Stanton
Films scored by Thomas Newman
Animated films set in California
Films set in aquariums
Film spinoffs
Finding Nemo
IMAX films
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award–winning films
Pixar animated films
Saturn Award–winning films
Films with screenplays by Andrew Stanton
Films with screenplays by Victoria Strouse
3D animated films
2016 comedy films
English-language adventure comedy films
Teen Choice Award winning films