We finally have it. We finally have a $100 million opening for 2024.

Our number one movie–by a landslide–is Inside Out 2. Expectations were always high for this one, but even the boldest tracking didn’t have it scoring the second-best opening weekend for an animated feature, behind only 2018’s Incredibles 2 (a film that probably forgot crossed the $600 million mark stateside, but there you go). With $155 million, Inside Out 2 easily eclipses the $90 million the first film made back in 2015, when it landed in second place against the second weekend of Jurassic World. Disney left nothing on the table when it came to making sure this reached the widest audience possible, as from what I’ve been reading, most theaters where Inside Out 2 was playing had a new showtime starting on average every half hour. So in other words, while there may have been Fear that Pixar had lost its theatrical touch after many expressed Disgust over Lightyear’s numbers, there is no reason to dwell on Anger or Sadness right now, as I’m certain everyone involved with this production is feeling extreme Joy (and no, I am not going to try to shoehorn in references to Riley’s four new emotions for this bit).
There were, however, reasons to be skeptical about Inside Out 2 prior to its release, the most notable among them being Pixar veteran Pete Docter not sitting in the director’s chair. Also, Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling are absent as Fear and Disgust this time around, as I guess they must have died since the last film came out, since I can’t think of any good reasons for Disney not to have them back, so RIP Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, I guess. Those aspects, on the surface, initially made Inside Out 2 seem like a “cheaper” production than it actually was, as it reportedly carried a price tag of $200 million (how???). Clearly, it was worth it, as the sequel faces no competition for the family market until Despicable Me 4 rolls out in July. Yes, yes, there are always going to be naysayers to Pixar producing sequels “instead of original movies” (even though, you know, they’ve never stopped making those), but to put things in perspective, Inside Out 2 surpassed the entire domestic gross of Elemental in one weekend. When money talks that loudly, you can’t really blame studios for listening.
And speaking of sequels, Bad Boys 4 is doing just great. It brought in $33 million to bring its total to $112 million, so it’s clearly surviving as R-rated counter-programming to Pixar’s cuddly PG-rated escapades. Meanwhile, IF finally made it past the $100 million mark, while The Garfield Movie is still showing legs even with Inside Out 2 playing. It dropped only 47%, and has now out-pounded 2004’s Garfield: The Movie.
As for our other newcomers…oh, wait, there are no major newcomers. Everyone was happy to avoid Riley and her emotions, which leaves us with some smaller releases I had never heard of before which couldn’t even make the top ten. This included something called Treasure, a film which centers on, according to its official plot summary, “a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor.” Look, maybe it’s a great movie, but someone should be fired for typing the words “a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor” and deciding there was nothing wrong with that sentence.
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
1.) Inside Out 2 (Dis) 4,440 theaters, Fri $62M, Sat $51M Sun $42M 3-day $155M/Wk 1
2.) Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Sony) 3,885 theaters, Fri $8.5M (-60%) Sat $12.1M Sun $12.3M, 3-day $33M (-42%), Total $112.2M/Wk 2, an amazing held besting the second weekend percent ease of Bad Boys for Life (-45%).
3.) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th/Dis) 2,600 (-555) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-10%) Sat $1.9M Sun $2M 3-day $5.2M (-4%), Total $157.8M/Wk 6
4.) Garfield Movie (Sony) 3,411 (-548) theaters, Fri $1.5M (-48%) Sat $1.7M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5M (-47%) Total $78.5M/Wk 4; again, best in franchise stateside.
5.) Watchers (NL) 3,351 theaters, Fri $1.1M (-62%) Sat $1.3M Sunday $1.2M 3-day $3.66M (-48%), Total $13.66M/Wk 2
6.) IF (Par) 3,006 (-576) theaters, Fri $1.07M (-54%), Sat $1.2M Sun $1M 3-day $3.45M (-56%) Total $100.9M/Wk 5; Paramount’s first movie of the year to click past $100M.
7.) Furiosa (WB) 1,874 (-1110) theaters, Fri $625K (-48%) Sat $925K Sun $875K 3-day $2.4M (-42%) Total $63.1M/Wk 4
8.) The Fall Guy (Uni) 1,663 (-747) theaters, Fri $430K (-48%) Sat $600K Sun $470K 3-day $1.5M (-42%), Total $87.9M/Wk 7
9.) Strangers – Part 1 (LG) 1,027 (-989) Fri $257K Sat $291K Sun $212K 3-day $760K (-55%) Total $33.9M/Wk 5
10.) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (NL/Fath) 1,035 (-494) theaters, Sat $642K, Total $3M/Wk 2

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