Pixar came back with a huge, huge win.
Inside Out 2 exceeded all expectations and delivered the second biggest debut for an animated title domestically. Worldwide, it also managed to break more records for Pixar, debuting with almost $300 million worldwide.
The Top 10 earned a combined $210 million this weekend, making it the biggest weekend of 2024 so far. It was also up 30.1% from last year, when The Flash flopped and Elemental had a horrible debut.
In 4,440 theaters, Pixar's Inside Out 2 topped the box office with a colossal $154 million. That's not only a massive improvement over the original Inside Out ($90 million), but it's also the second biggest in the company's history, just behind Incredibles II ($182 million).
All in all, this is a fantastic start for the film and a much needed win for Pixar. Onward had the misfortune of coming out just as COVID lockdowns started. Their three subsequent films, Soul, Luca and Turning Red were then sent to Disney+, and that led many to question if this could dampen the brand. When Pixar returned to theaters, it wasn't exactly glowing; Lightyear was a massive flop, while Elemental had strong legs after a poor debut, but it's still not considered a hit.
Inside Out 2 felt like a more assured hit than other originals, given that Pixar chose to delay Elio till next year. And that proved to be a choice that paid off.
For starters, Inside Out has been proclaimed as one of Pixar's best films and its popularity was reflected at the box office; it debuted with $90 million in its first weekend despite facing the second weekend of Jurassic World. With fantastic word of mouth, it closed with $356 million domestically and $850 million worldwide. And the film's concept could be expanded into sequels; we just five emotions, so Pixar chose to add a few more, as well as expand its worldbuilding. While 9 years is a long time for a follow-up, it might also lead to some nostalgia and introduce more kids to the film. Of course, that doesn't always work (Furiosa waves in the distance), but the bigger the hit, the more the demand.
Even without Pete Docter back as the director or Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader reprising their roles, that wouldn't really impact the film, as the audience does not pay attention to behind-the-scenes stuff. The only key parts were: are the characters back? Does the story look interesting? That's all it needed. As well as some good reviews, and the film certainly had them (91% on RT, 74 on Metacritic). Inside Out 2 also benefitted from a really weak year for animation; Kung Fu Panda 4 already ended its run, while The Garfield Movie didn't have anywhere near the hype or interest. So it was perfect timing... but with an asterisk, as it will face Despicable Me 4 in three weeks.
According to Disney, 62% of the audience was female, and 56% was 25 and under. An interesting stat is that the film was massively popular with Hispanics; 36% of the audience was Hispanic and it was the biggest demo for the film. They gave it a strong "A" on CinemaScore, the same grade as the original. Even with Despicable Me 4 coming up, the film should still hold well. The original Inside Out had competition from Minions in its fourth weekend, and it still got to a fantastic 3.94x multiplier. For now, it is a foregone conclusion that Inside Out 2 makes over $500 million domestically.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die made $33.7 million this weekend. That's a pretty great 40% drop, and it's better than its predecessor. It's even more impressive considering For Life had an empty January to itself. Through ten days, the film has grossed $113 million domestically, becoming Will Smith's 16th film to hit the $100 million milestone. It should continue holding well in the coming weeks.
In an insane hold, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes moved from fifth place to the third spot, earning $5.5 million this weekend. That represents an absurd 2% increase from last weekend, which is very uncommon for a wide release on a non-holiday weekend. Perhaps a result of double features with Inside Out 2. The film has amassed $158.1 million, already passing War, and it looks like it will come close to Rise ($176 million).
The Garfield Movie was hit by Inside Out 2. It dropped 52% and added $4.7 million this weekend. Its domestic total stands at $78 million. It passed Bill Murray's original version, but it's also gonna miss the $100 million milestone.
In fifth place, IF was also hit by Inside Out 2's arrival. It dropped 54% and made $3.6 million. Nevertheless, the film has crossed $100 million domestically.
The Watchers dropped 50% and grossed $3.5 million this weekend. That's not a bad drop considering the awful reception, although the fact that it opened very low surely has to do it. Through ten days, the film has made just $13.5 million, and with A Quiet Place: Day One coming up, it will finish below $20 million.
After awful drops, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga finally eased a little bit. It dipped 37% and earned $2.6 million. That takes its domestic total to a meager $63.3 million.
The Fall Guy eased 37% this weekend, grossing $1.6 million. That takes its domestic total to $88 million.
In ninth place, The Strangers: Chapter 1 collapsed 58% and added $759,039 this weekend. That takes its domestic total to $33.8 million, making it the highest grossing horror title of the year so far. Yeah, the bar is really that bad.
Rounding up the Top Ten was Fathom Events' re-release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It made $632,910 on Saturday, taking the lifetime gross to $318.6 million.
OVERSEAS
Inside Out 2 killed it overseas, debuting with a colossal $294 million worldwide, the biggest debut of the year. The craziest part, however, is that when using current exchange rates and in like-for-like markets, the numbers were bigger than The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Yes, it's really that big.
The biggest market was Mexico, where the film opened to a monumental $30.2 million, almost outgrossing the original's entire run ($31.1 million). That's one of the country's biggest ever debuts, behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($33.3 million), Avengers: Endgame ($31.9 million), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($30.8 million). It should be clarified that the films had different opening days; Inside Out 2 and Spider-Man opened on a Thursday, Endgame on a Friday, and Mario on Wednesday. The dollar figure was pretty hurt by recent exchange rate fluctuation in the past weeks, which means Inside Out 2 had more people than Mario despite having one less day. All these films ended with at least $77 million in the market, and it looks like Inside Out 2 will join them, assuming it's not impacted by Despicable Me 4.
Across the world, the film had fantastic debuts in Korea ($14.9M), UK ($13.9M), Germany ($8.1M), Philippines ($6.7M), Central America ($6.3M), Australia ($6.1M), Argentina ($5.5M), Colombia ($5.1M) and Chile ($4.6M). And that's in just 38 markets. It will open in more big markets like France, Italy, Spain, China and Brazil this weekend, and it will reach its final market, Japan, in August. For now, something is clear: $1 billion is absolutely happening, and even that's pessimistic.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die eased just 38% and added $30.8 million this weekend, taking its worldwide total to $215 million. Japan and China are coming up.
The Garfield Movie added $7 million overseas, and its worldwide total is now $217 million.
Furiosa continues losing steam, now earning just $5 million overseas for a $160 million worldwide run.
MOVIES THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK
| Movie | Release Date | Studio | Domestic Opening | Domestic Total | Worldwide Total | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | Mar/22 | Sony | $45,004,673 | $113,155,527 | $200,757,594 | $100M |
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has closed its mediocre run with $200 million worldwide. A disappointing figure; Sony increased the budget and it wound up with the lowest grossing Ghostbusters film. Adding into its weak numbers, it also received mixed reviews and word-of-mouth. It's unclear how Sony moves forward with the franchise, but it's clear nothing is ever passing the original's worldwide total ($296 million), even after 40 years of inflation.
THIS WEEKEND
Three newcomers are here, but none stand a chance at taking the top spot from Inside Out 2.
The first is Focus Features' The Bikeriders, the new film by Jeff Nichols. The film stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, and Norman Reedus, and follows the lives of the Outlaws MC, a motorcycle club founded in McCook, Illinois. 20th Century Studios was originally the distributor and planned to release it in December 2023, but New Regency later shopped it and sold it to Focus. It has great reviews, although it will be tough to recover its $40 million budget.
The other is Vertical's new horror film The Exorcism, which stars Russell Crowe (no connection to The Pope's Exorcist) as a trouble actor facing supernatural events while shooting a film. Possible sleeper hit?
There's another release, but the distribution plans are unclear as of right now. That one is Searchlight's Kinds of Kindness, the new film by Yorgos Lanthimos. The film stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer, and follows three distinct but loosely connected stories. Lanthimos and Stone have hit box office gold, with their collaborations making $95 million and $117 million worldwide. But don't expect a Poor Things run here; the film runs longer, anthology films aren't popular, and reviews are good but not excellent like that film.
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