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Pixar's latest movie Inside Out 2 has broken box office records on its opening weekend. Estimates suggest it landed $295m (£232.6m) globally in its first few days of release, which is the strongest opening of an animated movie ever.
In the US, it took in $155m, meaning that it has overtaken Dune 2 as the highest box office opener of the year. Perhaps even more impressively, this is the biggest opening of a film since Barbie too back in 2023. That film went on to gross more than a billion dollars worldwide – a feat Disney will be hoping to follow.
Inside Out 2 follows Riley as she becomes a teenager, sending her emotional headquarters into overdrive. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust must try and navigate some newcomers into their ranks, including Anxiety, who causes some serious internal carnage.
The film’s strong opening is good news for Pixar, which has been struggling critically and commercially slightly in recent years. Despite Elemental becoming a surprise hit for the animation studio, three of five recent releases went straight to Disney Plus, while Lightyear performed below expectations.
Speaking to the Inside Total Film podcast recently, Pixar boss Pete Docter acknowledged it is a "weird time" for the studio as they work out what to do next, and the difficulty of balancing sequels with new stories.
"Personally, I'm super excited to do original stuff," says Docter. "I think that's what made the Pixar name. That's how we got an Inside Out 2 because we made Inside Out 1. However, it's a weird time out there. We've done a number of originals that kind of nobody has heard of, and they don't make a big splash…"
