Move over Anxiety, there’s a new dominant emotion at the box office: Joy!
Disney and Pixar‘s expressive animated sequel “Inside Out 2” scored a mighty $155 million in its first weekend of release, overtaking “Dune: Part Two” ($82.5 million) and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($80 million) as the biggest opening of the year. It’s also the first movie since last July’s “Barbie” ($162 million) to debut above $100 million. Heading into the weekend, the follow-up film to 2015’s cerebral hit “Inside Out” was projected to collect $80 million to $90 million.
The second “Inside Out 2” also connected at the international box office with $140 million, enough to surpass “Frozen 2” ($135 million) as the biggest overseas animated opening of all time. Turnout was especially strong across Latin America, where it landed the second-biggest opening of all time behind Disney’s Marvel epic “Avengers: Endgame.” Globally, the movie has grossed $295 million to notch the title for biggest animated debut in like-for-like markets at current exchange rates. It carries a $200 million production budget.
“Inside Out 2” marks a huge win for theaters, which have been nervously waiting for the dismal summer season to take off. It’s also a triumph for Pixar, which has struggled at the box office in recent years as Disney sent films like “Turning Red,” “Soul” and “Luca” directly to Disney+ during the pandemic. Pixar chief Pete Docter, who directed 2015’s “Inside Out,” maintained that COVID-era strategy “trained” audiences to watch the studio’s movies at home — hence the comparatively less-embraced theatrical releases of 2022’s “Lightyear” and 2023’s “Elemental.”
Well, it looks like families have rediscovered the power of Pixar on the big screen. This debut marks the second biggest in Pixar history, ahead of 2016’s “Finding Dory” ($135 million) and 2019’s “Toy Story 4” ($120 million) and behind only 2018’s “Incredibles 2” ($182 million). Ticket sales for “Inside Out 2” towered over the original, which opened to $90.5 million. The first “Inside Out” became a runaway, Oscar-winning success, ending its theatrical run with $356 million in North America and $858.8 million globally.
“This is a sensational opening by Pixar’s own exceptional standard for a follow-up sequel,” says David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. He adds, “Pixar sequels are in a league of their own.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety