The box office has been in a pretty big slump lately. And I’m sure that plenty of executives at Disney and Pixar were a bit—well, anxious over the release of Inside Out 2.
Well, they can let that anxiety take a nice, comfy seat somewhere in the background. Because, according to early estimates, the returns are positively joyful.
In its first weekend of work, Inside Out 2 earned $155 million in North America. That secured a no-doubt win for the Pixar sequel, obviously. But it’s also the biggest opening of any film this year. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Barbie—which opened with $162 million in mid-July of 2023—to find a film that’s done better.
Impressive, right? But wait, we’re just getting started.
That $155 million mark also gives Inside Out 2 the second– biggest domestic opening ever for an animated movie—trailing only fellow Pixar giant Incredibles 2 for the honor. And keep in mind, Incredibles 2 banked its $182.7 million open in 2018 (a.k.a. the days before COVID), when the box office was flying high. The fact that Inside Out 2 is setting such strong marks in the midst of such a hard theatrical market might make many other films green with envy.
Keep in mind that most prognosticators pegged Inside Out 2 to make around $90 million in its opening frame—still eye-popping figures, to be sure, but far, far below what it ultimately made. Contrast that with Pixar’s last two theatrical releases: In 2022, Lightyear was expected to blast off with a $75 million open. Instead it debuted with a mere $50.6 million en route to becoming one of the year’s biggest box-office disappointments. Predictions for last year’s Elemental were more subdued, with $40 million being the most common guess. But Elemental missed even those modest prognostications, collecting just $29.6 million in its opening weekend.
Why did Inside Out 2 succeed while those other films missed the mark? I have a few thoughts, but those might have to wait for another blog.
Inside Out 2 also earned $140 million overseas, pushing its worldwide gross to $295 million. If that’s not enough to shake one out of one’s ennui, I don’t know what is.
Given those numbers, it might feel like Inside Out 2 was the only film playing this weekend. But turns out, a few other movies made some money, too.
Last week’s champ, Bad Boys: Ride or Die slipped to second place with a still– strong $33 million. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes actually climbed from fifth place to third, gathering up $5.2 million along the way. Overall, Kingdom has earned $157.8 million in North America, making it the year’s fourth-biggest film. Or, it will be, until Inside Out 2 inevitably passes it—which might happen before you finish this blog.
The Garfield Movie sauntered down to fourth place with $5 million, raising its own overall earnings to a smile-worthy $78.5 million. Meanwhile, The Watchers has little to smile about: sure, it’s still in the top five, but just barely—and its $3.7 million weekend boosted its domestic bottom line to a woeful $13.7 million.
Looking way down the list, we find the indie film Treasure, which earned just $243,757 in 650 theaters. That landed it in a veritable hole at No. 13 on the box-office list—which, arguably, makes it (ahem) buried Treasure.
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