Inside Out 2 Jumps for Joy with Record-Breaking Opening
After a very pessimistic May, Inside Out 2 gives Hollywood something to smile about with a record-breaking opening weekend.
Variety reported early yesterday that Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has collected 155 million dollars at the domestic box office. Combined with overseas box office, the film earned an incredibly impressive 295 million dollars in just its first three days in theaters. These numbers far exceed the box office tracking going into the weekend, which had Inside Out 2 collecting about 85 million dollars.
‘INSIDE OUT 2’ is tracking to be the biggest movie opening of 2024 domestically with $85M pic.twitter.com/PCPCuILJTO
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 11, 2024
This 155 million dollar opening has broken multiple records. Not only is it the best opening of the year, but it’s one of the biggest animated openings of all time. The Incredibles 2 and Disney’s remake of The Lion King were the only animated films to open to more. In addition, it easily surpasses the first Inside Out film’s opening by nearly 70 million dollars and has opened to more money than any film under the Disney umbrella since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
This is amazing news, not only for Pixar but for movie theaters overall. It serves as Pixar’s full return to form as a box office titan. For nearly 20 years, Pixar was the gold standard regarding high-quality animated films. In an increasingly IP-driven era, Pixar continued to find success with original content. However, the COVID-19 pandemic led to three consecutive Pixar films, Soul, Luca, and Turning Red, to debut exclusively on streaming.
Disney and Pixar’s #TurningRed will stream exclusively on #DisneyPlus beginning March 11. pic.twitter.com/CdVd7Pngta
— Pixar (@Pixar) January 7, 2022
This decision resulted in families becoming trained to expect new Pixar content at home. As a result, Pixar’s return to theaters with Lightyear crashed and burned, while their 2023 film Elemental took several months to reach profitability. Inside Out 2 reestablishes Pixar as a box office giant, able to deliver massive hits with its sequels. We will see if Elio, Pixar’s next original film, can keep up the momentum.
In terms of movie theaters overall, Inside Out 2 comes after an incredibly disappointing set of May releases. With no major tentpoles to start the summer season, only Disney’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes clawed its way to success. Other films, such as The Fall Guy, IF, and Furiosa, were mostly disappointments.
The box office got a small boost last weekend with Bad Boys: Ride or Die, but Inside Out 2 serves as the official kickoff of the summer blockbuster season. Pixar CEO Pete Doctor confirmed in an interview with TIME that the sequel would run exclusively in theaters for 100 days, returning to more traditional theatrical release windows.
At this point, Inside Out 2 is a smash success. With highly positive ratings from both critics and audiences, viewers will likely see the animated film lock down one of the nominations for Best Animated Feature early next year.
At this point only two questions remain; how much money can this film make before Despicable Me 4 arrives on July 4? And how long will it take for Pixar to greenlight Inside Out 3? You can check out our hopes for the new film here.
