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It’s still all smiles for “Inside Out 2” as Disney and Pixar’s animated sequel continues to dominate box office charts in its second weekend. The emotional motion picture added $30.5 million on Friday, bumping its domestic haul to $285.7 million. That’s enough to surge past “Dune: Part Two” ($282 million) to become the highest-grossing North American release of 2024 so far — and with only eight full days in theaters.
What’s more, “Inside Out 2” has a shot at another record, with the potential to land the biggest second weekend ever for an animated film. That currently goes to last spring’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which coined $92.3 million in its sophomore frame. Whether or not it can get there, it’s still a huge success for Disney and Pixar and a more-than-welcome hit after the summer season kicked off with a series of underperformers.
Wheeling into third place, Focus Features’ “The Bikeriders” filled up with $4 million from 2,641 theaters across Friday and preview screenings. Projections for an $8 million to $10 million bow heading into the weekend seem to be on target.
Originally set to release from Disney and 20th Century Studios, the Jeff Nichols-directed biker drama had been positioned as an awards player, with a Telluride premiere last fall and an auspicious autumnal release window. But producer New Regency elected to delay the picture amid the Hollywood strikes and sought a new distributor; after a short period, “Bikeriders” landed at Universal’s Focus. And now with the SAG-AFTRA strike in the rearview, the film’s cast, which includes Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy, gets to hit the promotional circuit.
The star power was probably worth the wait, though “Bikeriders” still carries a $40 million production budget. Reviews are positive (Variety chief critic Peter Debruge dubbed it “‘The Godfather’ of biker movies in his review) and early ticketbuyers seem to like the film, as indicated by the “B” grade determined by audience survey firm Cinema Score. Those are helpful factors for a longer run, which “Bikeriders” will need to hope for.
Second place looks to go to Sony and Columbia’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” projecting $18.4 million in its third weekend of release. The action sequel will click past $150 million domestic sometime in the next week and is only pacing slightly behind its predecessor, 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life.” The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence two-hander now ranks as the sixth-highest-grossing domestic release of the year; it moved ahead of fellow Sony sequel “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” ($113 million) five days ago.
Sony gets fourth place too with “The Garfield Movie,” still chowing down on some business as its animated rival “Inside Out 2” hogs the spotlight. The Alcon-financed feline feature is projecting $3.2 million for its fifth weekend, and it looks to claw past $85 million domestic through Sunday.
And “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is still monkeying around in the top five. 20th Century Studios and Disney’s sci-fi sequel is looking to add around $4 million in its seventh weekend of release. It’s now surpassed $160 million domestic.
