disney and Pixar brought a big dose of joy to the box office this weekend.
“Inside Out 2” debuted to an estimated $155 million domestically, the second-highest opening for an animated film and the first film since Warner Bros.' “Barbie” will exceed $100 million during its debut.
Of note, Disney does not consider its 2019 live-action remake of “The Lion King,” which generated $191.7 million during its debut, as an animated film.
“Inside Out 2” is expected to gross $295 million worldwide over the weekend.
“Let's say a collective 'welcome' to Disney, Pixar and the summer box office,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory.
Both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation struggled to regain a foothold at the box office after pandemic restrictions eased and audiences returned to theaters. Disney had opted to release a handful of animated features directly on Disney+, so parents were trained to look for new Disney titles on streaming, not in theaters, even when they returned to the big screen.
Compounding Disney's problems, many audience members began to feel that the company's content had become too existential and too concerned with social issues beyond the reach of children.
“There have been a lot of narratives written about the two studios and filmmaking in recent times, so this powerful debut of 'Inside Out 2' is a breath of fresh air,” Robbins said.
The film is the fifth Pixar film to surpass $100 million during its North American debut and the second-biggest opening weekend ticket sales for the studio, just behind 2018's “Incredibles 2,” which raised $182.6 million. According to data from EntTelligence, around 12 million viewers went to theaters to see the film.
“This is clearly a big win for movie theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It's an even bigger victory for Pixar.”
The theater industry has struggled this year with fewer titles, as production shutdowns due to the pandemic were exacerbated by a double labor strike that shuttered movie sets for nearly five months last year. The result has been a 26% drop in ticket sales compared to 2023 and a 42% drop from 2019 levels, according to Comscore data. Heading into this weekend, the domestic box office amounted to $2.8 billion.
While there have been some standout performances from films like Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment's “Dune: Part Two,” Warner Bros. and Toho's “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” and universal “Kung Fu Panda 4” 2024 box office has struggled to achieve a steady pace of releases and ticket sales.
For the first time since 2009, this year's early summer list was missing a Marvel Cinematic Universe title. These films typically average between $100 million and $200 million in openings, with 2019's “Avengers: Endgame” hitting a record $357.1 million. By contrast, this year, Universal's “The Fall Guy” opened with $28 million.
Fewer movies and fewer blockbusters could drop the summer box office by as much as $800 million compared to 2023, according to Comscore's Dergarabedian, and have a ripple effect for the entire year. After all, the key summer period, which runs from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, typically accounts for 40% of the total annual domestic box office.
“Inside Out 2” is a bright spot for the industry. It boasts the biggest domestic debut of 2024, surpassing “Dune: Part Two” and its $82.5 million in opening weekend ticket sales.
“Does this performance eliminate all concerns about evolving consumer behavior? Of course not, but it should put to rest those who think Disney or Pixar have permanently lost their commercial gravitas after an overly aggressive streaming strategy and movies undercooked films that together eroded some of their audience in recent years,” Robbins said.
And some heavyweights are coming to close out the summer and end the year.
“Deadpool and Wolverine,” Marvel's first R-rated movie, will hit theaters in July and is expected to deliver a strong opening weekend as well as a steady stream of ticket sales throughout its run.
Then comes “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in early September, “Joker: Folie a Deux” arrives in October along with “Venom: The Last Dance,” and in November comes “Gladiator II,” “Moana 2,” and “Wicked.” Also, in December we will have “Kraven the Hunter”, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and “Mufasa: The Lion King.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
