Inside Out 2 Box Office Shines With $13 Million in Previews

Inside Out 2 just posted $13 million in box office previews and suddenly the theater industry is looking at a massive weekend at the movies. Pixar’s latest was already off to a breathtaking start in International markets on Wednesday. But, the domestic take on Thursday night has to have some theater-owners breathing a sigh of relief. Inside Out 2‘s $13 million ranks above Dune Part Two‘s previous high water mark for 2024. ($12 million for Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi extravaganza.) There’s a real shot at $100 million for the Pixar sequel this weekend and observers from all over the industry will be watching with a ton of anticipation as this movie might reach heights that the movies haven’t seen for a few months.

Part of the reason for the enthusiasm would have to be the critic and audience approval for Inside Out 2. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is Certified Fresh with a 93% rating from critics and fans are even more warm toward Inside Out 2 with a 95% raating from audiences. Add all of those numebrs to the fact that this is a follow-up to a beloved Pixar entry and you have the recipe for a real heater. (Some real gratitude has to be extended to Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for their previous weekend with Bad Boys: Ride or Die warming things up for Inside Out 2 as well. The audience is apparently hungry for films and someone will have to address what happened to start this summer in post-mortem!) 

Will We See More Sequels If Inside Out 2 Crushes At The Box Office?

With all the change going on at Pixar, a lot of fans are nervous the studio might just stick to making sequels to beloved films. But, Pixar CCO Pete Docter told EW that those fears are unfounded. After all, there are still some original films in the pipeline. Yes, Toy Story 5 is due for 2026. But, Elio is still waiting in the wings as a completely fresh story from the studio. 

“One thing that I think was maybe slightly misinterpreted was the idea that we have to deliver more of what people know and maybe lean away from the personal. All of that’s true to some degree, but I think what we’re always trying to do is find what are the universal things that everybody believes, both in terms of concepts and in terms of life experience,” Docter explained. 

“So, for example, I thought [as a kid] my toys came to life,” he added. “I thought there were monsters that lived in the closet. We’re looking for those kinds of big, universal things that people go, ‘I already know that it’s an original idea, but it’s a concept that I had, too.’ So it’s kind of a sequel in that way. You know what I mean? There’s a limited number of those, so they each have to be done in a very unique way through a specific lens. We want to hold onto that, but we want to make sure that they speak widely.”

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