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Anxiety to the rescue! Disney and Pixar‘s “Inside Out 2,” an animated adventure that spotlights apprehension among other emotions, scored the biggest box office debut of the year with $155 million domestically and $295 million globally.
It’s a huge win for theaters (ticket sales have been lagging way behind 2023) and Pixar (which has struggled to restore its box office touch since COVID). Those results far exceeded expectations and notched several opening weekend records in the process.
Outside of North America, “Inside Out 2” enjoyed the biggest start in Mexico with $30.2 million, followed by Korea with $14.9 million, the United Kingdom with $13.9 million, Germany with $8.1 million and the Philippines with $6.7 million. The movie has already collected $140 million overseas — and it’s yet to open in major markets like France, Italy, Spain, China and Japan.
The PG-rated “Inside Out 2,” which cost $200 million to produce, arrives nearly 10 years after the original animated adventure. This story revisits the mind of Riley, now a teenager, whose familiar emotions of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black) were running the show. As she heads to summer camp, though, a whole bunch of new ones, such as Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Nostalgia (June Squibb), show up and bring some chaotic energy. Critics and audiences were charmed by the sequel, which boasts an “A” CinemaScore and 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie’s positive word of mouth should bode well for its theatrical run.
The first 2015 film became a huge hit with $356 million in North America and $858.8 million globally. Of course, it’s too soon to know how ticket sales for the sequel will stack up against the first — though analysts expect “Inside Out 2” to overtake its predecessor… and then some. It could very well become the first movie of the year to hit $1 billion at the global box office. But let’s not trigger Anxiety by thinking about attaining those future box office benchmarks. For now, here are all the records that were felt, seen and heard in the film’s opening weekend.
Domestic:
- Biggest opening of the year, overtaking “Dune: Part Two” ($82.5 million) and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($80 million)
- Only release of 2024, and the first since last July’s “Barbie” ($162 million), to launch above $100 million
- Second-largest animated debut of all time, behind 2018’s Pixar sequel “Incredibles 2” ($182.7 million)
- Second-biggest start in Pixar history, ahead of 2016’s “Finding Dory” ($135 million) and 2019’s “Toy Story 4” ($120 million) and behind only 2018’s “Incredibles 2”
- Fourth-best opening for a PG movie after 2019’s “The Lion King” ($191 million), “Incredibles 2” and 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast” ($174 million)
International:
- Biggest international opening weekend in history at current exchange rates (and second-biggest at actual exchange rates), surpassing Disney’s 2019 adventure “Frozen 2” ($135 million)
- Second-biggest debut ever in Latin America, behind only Disney’s Marvel epic “Avengers: Endgame”
- Best start of all time in smaller markets including Colombia, Turkey, and Paraguay — and among the top five in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Greece and Peru
- Imax’s fourth-biggest animated opening (excluding China) with $3.5 million
Global:
- Biggest animated opening of all time in like-for-like markets at current exchange rates (which is industry speak for this record comes with an asterisk). By this metric, though, it powered above the three-day total of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (which officially opened over five days)
- Imax’s fourth-biggest animated debut (excluding China) with $14.5 million
