Pixar’s highly-anticipated sequel Inside Out 2 has shot out of the gate and given the summer box office the shot in the arm it needed.
Here’s a good news story to begin the week: Inside Out 2 has debuted in cinemas across the world and done so in a very strong fashion.
The film pulled in $155m in America in its opening weekend and has already amassed an additional $140m from global territories. That’s a $295m haul in total folks, the biggest opening since Barbie last summer and the film has broken a few records along the way.
It’s the biggest opening of 2024 by a long way, almost doubling the total of Dune: Part Two. It’s also the biggest overseas animated opening of all time. On top of that, the whopping $295m global gross is the biggest animated debut in ‘like-for-like markets’ to date.
All in all, it’s a stunning success story that is especially heartening since it emerges from a beloved studio that has found itself facing plenty of scrutiny over the last couple of years.
Although last year’s Elemental quietly grossed enough cash to place itself alongside other animated films that were deemed to be successful (such as Sony’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), the film’s slow start spurred plenty of thinkpieces wondering if Pixar was doomed. Layoffs ensued and questions were asked regarding whether the company’s golden run of success was finally over.
The success of Inside Out 2 seems to be a definitive answer to that question and offers a tonic to cinema operators in the wake of several big summer movies failing to attract audiences. If the film can enjoy a long run at the box office in a similar fashion to Elemental, then who knows, perhaps more records will be broken along the way.
Just last week we covered a story where Pixar’s boss, Pete Docter, publicly stated that he wasn’t interested in going down the route of pursuing live action remakes of Pixar classics. Given how a similar approach has seen creativity and originality slowly stifle DIsney – Pixar’s parent company – that was a relief to hear. Now Inside Out 2 has hit the ground running, we hope that Pixar will continue to be given the freedom that the studio needs to continue telling stories its own way.
