Inside Out 2 was tracking to be a success; but the movie found an incredible opening as audiences flocked to see the Pixar sequel.
Huge Win For Inside Out 2
Inside Out 2 was tracking for an $85 million opening. As per Box Office Mojo, however, the movie brought in an astounding $155 million in its opening weekend. Making it the biggest debut since last year’s Barbie. Undoubtedly, this is a huge relief for theatres who have been waiting for the summer movie season to take off. It did a bit last week with Bad Boys: Ride Or Die; but this week really solidified that the season has kicked off.
The success is also a much-needed win for Pixar and Disney. The studio had to shift many of its releases to Disney+ during the pandemic; including Turning Red, Soul, and Luca. Even when the studio returned to theatres; both Lightyear and Elemental failed to find audiences in the wake of a new distribution model with Disney+. The success of Inside Out 2 undoubtedly gives Disney some re-assurances for other summer releases; like Deadpool & Wolverine and Alien: Romulus.
The movie easily outsold the original with its $90 million opening; but couldn’t surpass Incredibles 2 with its $182 million opening.
The Rest Of The Box Office
Bad Boys: Ride or Die slid from first to second. The movie dropped 41% from last week; which was in line with my predictions. The movie still made $33 million this past weekend and is at $214 million worldwide. Which is quite impressive considering the $100 million production budget. At this point the movie is considered profitable and will likely lead to more sequels featuring the titular bad boys.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes re-took third place after dropping to fifth place last week. The Garfield Movie placed fourth; and The Watchers dropped from fourth to fifth place.
Next Week’s Box Office Predictions
Next week sees the release of The Bikeriders as the big wide-release film.
The movie was supposed to be a 2023 awards contender but vacated its release date due to the strikes. Now the film is being released by Focus Features. While the movie is scoring high with reviewers; it will see direct competition with Bad Boys: Ride Or Die. Which is competing for the same demographic. Even then, it also features indirect competition with Inside Out 2. Considering the movie’s success, theatre chains and Disney may expand that to more screens.
It also doesn’t help that Focus Features doesn’t have a lot of experience in marketing and distributing wide release films. Focus tends to do well with smaller releases. Their wide release films this year have failed to make a big splash. With Back To Black earning $2.8 million on its opening weekend. Lisa Frankenstein made $3.6 million.
Tracking has the movie at $8 million to $15 million. Considering the star power of the movie, that may help the film’s success. However, there has not been a lot of marketing for the film and I don’t suspect it’ll make more than $8 million. It may even be a struggle for the film to make that much.
The movie also doesn’t have long to succeed; as the movie has more direct competition from A Quiet Place: Day One the week after.
As always we’ll find out next week!
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