Pixar is finally back in fighting shape.
The Disney-owned animation studio’s 28th film, “Inside Out 2,” reached estimated North American ticket sales of about $145 million from Thursday night through Sunday, ending a cold spell that began in March 2020 when theaters closed due to the were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was the second-biggest opening weekend in Pixar’s 29-year history, trailing only superhero sequel “Incredibles 2,” which grossed about $180 million in 2018.
“They’re back,” David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a box office newsletter, said of Pixar. “This is a sensational opening.”
Based on pre-release surveys that track audience interest, box office analysts had expected “Inside Out 2” to gross about $90 million over the weekend in the U.S. and Canada. That total would have been high — on par with opening weekend ticket sales for the first “Inside Out” in 2015.
According to analysts, “Inside Out 2” grossed an additional $125 million in overseas partial release sales, bringing its worldwide opening total to around $270 million. The PG-rated film cost an estimated $200 million to make and at least another $100 million to market.
“Inside Out 2,” about a 13-year-old girl and the personified feelings in her puberty-addled mind, received rave reviews. Ticket buyers gave the film a grade of “A” in the CinemaScore final polls, the same score as the first film in the series.
Pixar stumbled in March 2020 when “Onward” hit theaters just as coronavirus infections were surging. Disney then brought three Pixar films online in a row — “Soul,” “Turning Red” and “Luca” — and skipped theaters entirely in favor of the company’s Disney+ streaming service.
All three received strong reviews from critics. Quality wasn’t a problem. But Pixar’s connection with ticket buyers – its strength as a cinema brand – began to wane.
“Lightyear,” a spinoff from Pixar’s “Toy Story” series, marked the studio’s return to theaters in 2022. It crashed and burned at the box office. Furthermore, the reviews were poor, at least by Pixar standards. Did the studio also have a quality problem?
“Elemental,” an original Pixar film released in theaters last year, also received under-$500 reviews and faltered at the box office, at least initially. But “Elemental” ultimately recovered and collected a respectable $500 million worldwide.
Since then, Pixar has overhauled its pipeline, delaying another original film, “Elio,” scheduled for theatrical release this year, and pushing ahead with sequels including “Toy Story 5.” Last month, Pixar announced it would stop producing original shows for Disney+ as part of its workforce cuts, laying off 175 employees, or about 14 percent of its workforce. Disney had pushed Pixar to start producing television series as part of a broader — now abandoned — effort to flood Disney+ with content.
Disney particularly used its streaming service as a sales tool for “Inside Out 2,” which was released exclusively in theaters. On Wednesday, Disney+ subscribers received an email notification about a promotion from Fandango, the online movie ticket seller: Get a $10 credit to use toward a ticket to “Inside Out 2.” The offer, which expired in July, then attracted a lot of attention on Disney-oriented fan sites.
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2024-06-16 15:51:24
www.nytimes.com
