“Toy Story 4” Delivers Impressive 118M Opening

By: Keaton Marcus

Diving into the weekend, one of Summer’s most anticipated pictures, Toy Story 4, topped the box office easily with a franchise record. However, even it got nipped by the sequel slump this season, far behind original expectations. This weekend’s Child’s Play reboot also fell behind expectations, managing a so-so runner-up three-day, while holdovers such as Aladdin, Men in Black International, and The Secret Life of Pets 2 rounded up the last few spots in the top five. Otherwise, the final wide release, Anna, self-destructed outside the top ten.

As mentioned, Disney’s anticipated sequel, Toy Story 4, gracefully topped the charts with an estimated 118M in sales. The film played in 4,575 North American theaters—making it the second biggest release, following only Avengers: Endgame (4,662). The picture managed a per-screen average of $25,792, and took a franchise record—however, it’s notable that even the biggest debut of the Summer got docked by the sequel slump—missing the optimistic 180M expectations, and even the conservative, 140M+ projections from Disney. Still, the debut gave the animated flick the third biggest opening this year, behind Captain Marvel, and Endgame, giving the top four three-days to Disney. Compared to other films, it beat The Secret Life of Pets (104.3M) and the previous franchise record holder, Toy Story 3 (110.3M). However, it did fall behind the two biggest animated debuts of all-time, with Finding Dory (135M), and Incredibles 2 (182.6M).

For the domestic finish, the previous installment, Toy Story 3, delivered a multiplier of 3.8x—otherwise, The Secret Life of Pets delivered 3.5x, giving the animated sequel a finishing range from 415M, and 448M—which is the third-biggest animated total—and almost gives a definite 400M+ finish. Furthermore, because of the excellent reviews, the PG-rated picture should refrain from dipping too much. Especially since the next major family-friendly picture is The Lion King reboot on Jul 19th. Considering this, our most likely prediction is an ending around 431M.

Internationally, the film sold an estimated 120M from just 37 overseas markets, adding to an official global launch of 238M. Leading the way was Mexico, which delivered an impressive 23.4M debut—following was the UK (15M), China (13.4M), Brazil (9.6M), Korea (8.5M), Argentina (6.9M), and Australia (6.1M). Upcoming releases include France and Italy next weekend, trailed by Japan (Jul 12), and Germany (Aug 15).

Review wise, the film received excellent reception from both critics, and audiences. On Sweet and Sour Movies, you can look for our review tomorrow. However, on RottenTomatoes, the film was handed a spectacular 98% “Certified Fresh”, and on Metacritic, a solid 84/100 indicating “Universal Acclaim”. Audiences gave it a just-as positive 96% with RottenTomatoes, and another wonderful A CinemaScore.

In runner-up position, we saw United Artists Releasing’s Child’s Play reboot, which debuted with an estimated 14M from 3,007 locations. While the film is a little ways behind it’s original 18M expectations, it still managed a satisfying opening. The reviews were pretty mixed, both on the critical, and fan side—with a 60% “Fresh” on RottenTomatoes, and an extremely skeptical 47/100 on Metacritic. Audiences gave it a mediocre C+ CinemaScore, which reflects most R-rated horror pictures.

Thirdly, Disney’s Aladdin, which held well again to a sixth weekend of 12.2M, sliding just 29.5% from last weekend, and reaching a gargantuan 287.5M domestically. Internationally, the film played another 33M, resulting in an overseas total of 522.6M, and a global bout of 810.1M.

Holding fourth place was Sony/Columbia’s Men in Black International, which following a disappointing debut, dipped a severe 64.2%, to a sophomore session of just 10.7M—and a domestic running gross of only 52.6M. Internationally, it’s not faring much better—adding an estimated 30M for an overseas total of 129.4M, and a global gross of 182M.

Rounding out the top five was Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 which sold an estimated 10.2M, and slid 57.8% (generally cause of the rival Toy Story 4) and reached 117.5M domestically heading towards its third week of release. Internationally, the film climbed an estimated 10.8M, adding to an international gross of 77.1M, and a global bout of 194.6M.

Outside the top ten, we finally are looking at Lionsgate’s latest flop, Anna, which sold an estimated 3.5M from 2,114 locations, averaging just $1,672 per-screen.

Next weekend, we see two nationwide releases crowd the theaters. WB’s Annabelle Comes Home is looking at an impressive five-day debut kicking off Wednesday in 3,500+ theaters, but may fall under the empire of Toy Story 4. Otherwise, romantic comedy picture Yesterday is debuting on Friday with an estimated 2,600 locations.

By: Keaton Marcus