Topping expectations, The Walt Disney Company DIS -Pixar’s Inside Out collected an impressive $91 million at the domestic box office over its debut weekend. Analysts estimated the movie to amass $60-$70 million during the opening weekend.
Analysts had expected Pixar’s latest offering to take a hit from the Jurassic World juggernaut that shows no signs of stopping. However, the record collections, worldwide too, show that it is hard to predict box office performance while underlining the fact that there is no dearth of takers for quality cinema.
Inside Out managed to rake in $41 million in overseas territories, taking the total count to an impressive $132 million. Another new entry this week was Dope, a Sundance film festival favourite that opened at no. 5 with a $6 million in collections. The third place was occupied by Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc ‘s. FOXA Spy that earned $10.5 million in its third weekend while Time Warner Inc’s. TWX San Andreas, finishing fourth, amassed $8.2 million in its fourth weekend.
Unlike the 14 previous Pixar releases that have opened at no. 1 slot, Inside Out opened at no. 2 behind Jurassic World that was again at the top with over $102 million in collections. This makes Comcast Corporation's CMCSA dino reboot the second film ever to gross over $100 million in its second week, marginally behind Marvels’ The Avengers record haul of $103.1 million in 2012.
Inside Out’s collections topped the $68 million earned by The Day After Tomorrow in 2005 that till now held the record for the highest opening despite not topping the charts. It also bettered $77 million collected by Avatar during its opening weekend in 2009, highest for an original and a non-sequel movie.
Moreover, Inside Out’s collections have outperformed all of Pixar’s earlier movies that did manage to open at the no. 1 slot. It is now the second highest grossing Pixar movie after Toy Story 3, which earned a whopping $110 million on its debut weekend in 2010.
So it is should not be a concern that Inside Out ended Pixar’s no. 1 opening streak at the box office. In fact, Inside Out brings back Pixar’s mojo. Pixar, known for its ingenuity and excellent animation films, failed to impress with last three offerings namely Monster University (2013) Brave (2012) and Cars 2 (2011). The maker of fabulous originals like Toy Story, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo had fallen out of favour with the audiences and critics alike as the films received underwhelming response at the box office.
With Inside Out, Pixar yet again proves its worth. Some critics have labelled it as Pixar’s most outstanding offering till date that has raised the bar in the animation world by several notches.
Inside Out is Pixar’s first release since Monsters University in Jun 2013. Directed by Pete Docter, of Up fame, it is the story of 11 year old Riley and the tussle among her emotions Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust and Fear in her mind while she tries to deal with relocating and growing up. Visually, the movie is a CGI spectacle.
Inside Out has been received very well by the critics everywhere. It has an astounding 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 9.1 on IMDb. Moreover, the movie received a thunderous applause at its premier at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival.
With another project, The Good Dinosaur lined up for release in Nov 2015, Pixar will carry forward this new found momentum. This is the first time Pixar has two releases in a year. Pixar was acquired by Disney in 2006.
Moreover, for the parent company Disney, the year is turning out as expected. With Avengers: Age of Ultron nearing $1.4 billion in collections and Inside Out scoring fabulously at the box office, Disney’s Studio division continues its fantastic run. Cinderella, with over $500 million in collections deserves a mention.
However, Tomorrowland was somewhat of a box office disappointment but that is likely to be overshadowed by the other releases. Given Marvel’s runaway success these days, Paul Rudd starrer Ant-Man is likely to deliver when it releases in July and finally with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December, there is no stopping Disney any time in the near future. At present Disney carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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