For the first time in 4 years, Pixar has two major releases in 2026. While Toy Story 5 might be guaranteed the bigger box office haul, Hoppers – which releases on March 6 – looks like a charming original story. The movie’s story sees scientists discover the ability to transplant a human mind into that of a robotic animal, with the technology then used by Mabel, an animal-loving teenager, who becomes a beaver so that she can help save their habitat.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The movie’s setup is very much like Pixar’s take on Avatar, a comparison that the studio itself has joked about in previous trailers. And with the release of the movie less than a month away, we now have a new teaser for the film, thanks to the Hoppers Super Bowl spot, which you can watch below:
The footage briefly explains the premise, but then the focus is rightly on the chaos and hilarity that ensures after Mabel’s mind enters a robotic beaver body. She can talk to animals, and they in turn look to communicate in a very human way: emojis. There is a very high chance, in fact, that “Lizard, lizard, lunchtime snack. Giant snake. Ants fight back. Slippery log. Dancing frog,” will be stuck in your head for a long time after watching.
Hoppers Already Has Strong Praise – But Will It Be A Hit For Pixar?
The Super Bowl spot is everything you’d hope for from an original Pixar movie: clever, creative, and very funny. Even just from those 30 seconds, it’s easy to see why the first reactions to Hoppers were so positive, with it being praised for its humor and originality. Indeed, ComicBook‘s Chris Killian called the movie “one of the best non-sequels Pixar has made in a minute,” and put it among “the funniest Pixar movies to date.”
The movie stars Piper Curda as Mabel, who becomes the beaver, and Bobby Moynihan as King George, a king among the animals. The impressive voice cast also includes Jon Hamm, Dave Franco, and Meryl Streep. Directed by Daniel Chong, there’s a lot of talent involved in the movie, and it seems likely to be a another hit with critics for the studio, but one of the bigger questions is whether it’ll perform at the box office.
Pixar’s original movies have struggled in the 2020s, with its most recent, Elio, another Sci-Fi movie, making just $154 million worldwide. This has been an ongoing issue since the Covid-19 pandemic and Pixar movies releasing on Disney+, with many of its original films unfairly being seen as ones that you can simply wait to see on streaming, rather than in theaters. At the same time, Hoppers is releasing when there’s a clear demand for family movies, and the early box office projections [via Box Office Pro] have it opening at $40-50m domestic, which would be a significant improvement on Elio’s $20.8m and give it a much greater chance of success. Based on its Super Bowl spot, it deserves it.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Toei Animation -
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
