Inside Out 2 Vibes With a Massive Box Office Open

After several years where most of their movies launched on Disney+ (and not without controversy), Pixar’s back in theaters with Inside Out 2. The sequel’s big hook is a trio of new Emotions that’ve emerged from Riley’s growth into puberty, and it’s got a lot audiences who’ve seen it jumping for joy.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, Inside Out 2 blew its initial projections for a big $295 million take for its opening weekend. Its $155 million domestic open makes it the second-biggest animated launch ever in a three-day weekend, and its international $140 million open is equally historic in those markets (surpassing Frozen 2’s $135.4 million). All-in-all, it beats out Super Mario Bros. for the biggest animated opening overall, and the largest theatrical box office since Barbie almost a full year ago.

The original Inside Out made $858.8 million and has been held in fairly high regard since 2015. That reputation and this being Pixar’s first actual sequel in years will likely take Inside Out 2 a long ways, boosted by strong word of mouth and nothing else for kids playing in theaters until Despicable Me 4 in early July. Either way, this and last week’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die (which earned $33 million this weekend and now has $220 million overall) brought up the domestic box office for the first time in all of 2024. More interestingly is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: it’s been in theaters for nearly a whole month and keeps making money. This weekend, it hit third place in the domestic box office for what’s now $157.8 million and $374.5 million worldwide. For whatever reason, that movie’s got itself some pretty good legs, and it’s a coin flip as to how long 20th Century Studios is going to let it stay in theaters before calling it and pulling the plug.

Between now and the aforementioned Despicable Me 4, big theatrical movies for the next two weeks include The Bikeriders, Kinds of Kindness, and The Exorcism on June 21. A week later on the 28th, Paramount and Warner Bros. are bringing in the horror prequel A Quiet Place: Day One and Kevin Costner’s western epic Horizon: Chapter I.

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