‘Inside Out 2’ outperforms expectations with a joyful $155M opening weekend
The sequel had the year’s biggest debut — and the second biggest opener for any Pixar movie.
Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of June 14-16, 2024.
1. Inside Out 2
Weekend gross: $155M
Total domestic gross: $155M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
Walt Disney Studios and movie theater chains across the country have every right to get emotional about Inside Out 2. The Pixar sequel had by far the biggest debut of 2024, not only blowing away previous opening weekends this year but also making the tracking for the film look ridiculous.
Going into the weekend, projection for Inside Out 2 had the film opening somewhere in the $80 million to $90 million range. Deadline even reported that it was on pace for a $135 global debut. Those numbers would’ve been great, both for the box office and for Pixar. Prior to this weekend, the two biggest openers for 2024 were both in the low-$80 million range (Dune: Part Two at $82.5 million and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire at $80 million), with no movie cracking the $100 million mark its first weekend this year.
Pixar hadn’t seen a $100 million-plus opening weekend since Toy Story 4 debuted with $120.9 million in 2019. The studio’s releases since then, if they were lucky enough to not be sent directly to Disney+, muddled around either at or below the $50 million mark.
Inside Out 2 blew all of those numbers away.
This was the biggest opening weekend for Pixar since Incredibles 2 opened with $182.7 million in 2018. Inside Out 2 easily took the No. 2 spot among Pixar debuts, bumping Finding Dory ($135.1 million) down to No. 3. The sequel instantly became the eighth member of the $100 million club and the fifth member of the $150 million club for 2024.
Pixar’s next film is Elio, an original story set to hit theaters this same weekend next June. Will it enjoy a boost from Inside Out 2? Has Disney finally corrected the idea that Pixar movies are for watching on Disney+ and not worthy of being seen in theaters? Or is this just positive word of mouth around a sequel to an already acclaimed Pixar movie?
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2. Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Weekend gross: $33M
Total domestic gross: $112.2M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 42
Bad Boys: Ride or Die dipped to the No. 2 spot this weekend but still added a very good $33 million to its domestic haul. The fourth film in the franchise is tracking very close to its predecessor’s pace. Bad Boys for Life stood at $120.7 million through its second weekend, a number that Ride or Die is less than $10 million away from matching.
