NEW YORK – Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” brought the box office to life with a $118 million opening weekend after a three-week slump of underperforming sequels, but the Pixar film’s below-expectations debut didn’t quell continuing concerns about a rocky summer movie season.
The “Toy Story 4” opening, according to studio estimates Sunday, ranks as the fourth-highest animated film opening ever, not accounting for inflation. Above it are 2018’s “Incredibles 2” ($182 million), 2016’s “Finding Dory” ($135 million), and 2007’s “Shrek the Third” ($121 million). It’s the year’s third-largest debut, trailing only “Avengers: Endgame” and “Captain Marvel.”
But heading into the weekend, a $140 million to $150 million opening had seemed assured for “Toy Story 4,” which played in more than 4,500 North American theaters. Adjusted for inflation, the film came in shy of the $110.3 million – or about $129 million in today’s dollars – “Toy Story 3” made nine years ago.
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It followed a string of disappointing sequels including “Dark Phoenix,” ”Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Men in Black: International.” But “Toy Story 4” had something those films didn’t: great reviews. It rates 98% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it an A grade on CinemaScore.
The sequel, which introduces the child-crafted plaything Forky (voiced by Tony Hale) to the voice cast including Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, also grossed $120 million internationally.
Disney distribution chief Cathleen Taff says the company was thrilled with the opening and praised Pixar’s high standards.
“The Pixar team has always been disciplined about making sure they have a compelling story to tell, and that is especially true when it comes to sequels,” she says. “The end result speaks for itself.”
The overall marketplace didn’t give “Toy Story 4” much momentum. Last week’s top film, the poorly reviewed “Men in Black International,” slid 64%, slipping to fourth place with $10.8 million.
The No. 2 film, the horror reboot “Child’s Play” – cheekily positioned as the weekend’s R-rated toy movie – also opened below expectations with $14.1 million. A remake of the 1988 original, the film stars Aubrey Plaza with Mark Hamill voicing the knife-wielding doll Chucky.
Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” held in third with $12.2 million and passed $800 million worldwide, and “The Secret Life of Pets 2” fell to fifth with $10.3 million.
Luc Besson’s assassin thriller “Anna” missed out on the top 10 entirely, opening with a mere $3.5 million in more than 2,000 theaters. In 2018, Besson was accused of rape by actress Sand Van Roy. A lawyer for Besson denied the accusation and French authorities dropped the investigation in February, citing a lack of evidence. Eight other women also accused Besson of sexual misconduct.
In a summer season that’s running 6.5% off the pace of last year, according to Comscore, many had positioned “Toy Story 4” as a surefire savior. Instead, the weekend was down 27.2% from the same frame last year. Overwhelming the industry’s market leader, Disney was thought immune to any sequel downturn.
But most other studios would love to have a film underperform to $118 million, with an expectation of long-term playability. Outside of the upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” ”Toy Story 4″ has no family-friendly competition until “The Lion King” remake opens July 19.
“If we bring it down to earth and put some perspective on this, it was still a franchise-high debut,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “It was a global opening of $238 million.”
But “the summer has been a real headscratcher,” he adds.
Final numbers are expected Monday.
Contributing: Kim Willis
