'Inside Out 2' Scores $155 Million Opening

Hollywood's summer movie anxieties gave way to joy this weekend with Disney and Pixars' massive debut Inside Out 2. The animated sequel grossed $155 million in ticket sales at 4,440 theaters in the United States. United and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Not only is it the second biggest opening weekend at Pixars in its nearly 29 years of making films and the second biggest animated opening ever (behind only the 182.7 million debut dollars from Incredibles 2 in 2018); It's also the biggest of 2024, for which no debut film has exceeded $100 million. With an estimated $140 million from international screenings, Inside Out 2 had a staggering and record-breaking worldwide debut of $295 million.

The success is significant for Pixar, marking a much-needed return to form for a studio that has suffered a series of disappointing launches, including Elemental, which ultimately became a success, and Lightyear, which did not. It's also vitally important to the Hollywood ecosystem as a whole and to the health of theatrical exhibition, which was running a 26% deficit heading into this weekend. Inside Out 2 marks the biggest opening since Barbie's $162 million launch last July.

“This is a monumental weekend for movie theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

Kelsey Mann directed Inside Out 2, which picks up with Riley as she turns 13. This means the arrival of new emotions like anxiety (Maya Hawke), boredom (Adele Exarchopoulos), envy (Ayo Edebiri) and embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). The mixture. Amy Poehler once again lends her voice to Joy in a cast that also includes Tony Hale, Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith as Sadness. It received rave reviews from critics (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and surveyed audiences who gave it an A CinemaScore, suggesting it won't be a first-weekend wonder either. With kids out of school and an open market until Despicable Me 4 enters the ring on July 4, Inside Out 2 is just getting started.

It is estimated that Inside Out 2 cost around $200 million to produce, not including the millions spent on marketing. Coming into the weekend, it was a debut in the $90 million range, which would have been in line with Inside Out's first weekend in June 2019. Even that would have been considered a formidable feat, and enough to claim the biggest opening of the year ultimately toppled March releases like Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong.

It got off to a roaring start with $13 million in Thursday previews, which began at 3 p.m. The only major release of the weekend, its cinematic footprint was equally impressive on 400 IMAX screens, more than 900 high-end large format screens and more than 2,500 3D screens.

Family audiences still love going to the movies, Dergarabedian said. As an out-of-home experience, it's still a good deal.

This recommitment to cinema comes after Disney sent several Pixar films directly to its streaming service, Disney+, because of the pandemic, including Soul, Luca and Turning Red. Last month, the New York Times reported that Pixar had decided to return its focus to feature films (and not producing shows for Disney+) and had laid off 14% of its workforce (around 175 employees). .

As big as this weekend is for the industry as a whole, for Pixar, it's huge. They're trying to get their groove back since the pandemic, Dergarabedian said. Pixar enjoyed one of the most impressive box office records of all time for decades. They really came back in a big way.

Second place went to Sony's Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which is in its second weekend with $33 million, down just 42% from its opening. In just 12 days, he has already earned over $112 million domestically and $214 million globally. As of Friday, the four-film franchise had crossed the $1 billion mark.

The success of Bad Boys last weekend marked the start of a turnaround in higher revenues for the lagging summer movie season. For Hollywood, the summer season, which runs from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, typically accounts for about 40 percent of the annual box office. The deficit is still significant, with ticket sales down 28% for the summer and 24% for the year (and that's still before Barbenheimer), but it's progress nonetheless in a more promising direction .

We won't get there overnight, Dergarabedian said. But it's good news for theaters. And we have some great films on the way.