Finding Dory havoc, before crashing it into the sea, freeing all the fish. Dory, along with her parents and new friends, return to the reef with Marlin and Nemo. In a post-credits scene, the tank gang from the first film, still trapped inside their (now algae-covered) plastic bags, reach California one year after floating across the Pacific Ocean. They are eventually picked up by staff members from the Marine Life Institute. Prior to work on "Finding Dory", Disney had planned to make a "Finding Nemo" sequel without Pixar's involvement, through Circle 7 Animation, a studio Disney announced in 2005 with the intention
Finding Nemo surpassed it. The film sold an estimated 56,337,500 tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run. In North America, "Finding Nemo" set an opening weekend record for an animated feature, making $70,251,710 (first surpassed by "Shrek 2") and ended up spending 11 weeks in the top 10 domestically (including 7 weeks in the top 5), remaining there until August 14. It became the highest-grossing animated film in North America ($339.7 million), outside North America ($528.2 million), and worldwide ($867.9 million), in all three occasions out-grossing "The Lion King". In North America, it was surpassed by both "Shrek 2" in