Once the dominant force in animated cinema, Pixar has endured a rocky stretch over the past few years. While the studio is still more than capable of delivering a bona fide hit (Inside Out 2 grossed over $1 billion in 2024), some of their recent efforts have struggled mightily at the box office. Films such as Lightyear and Elio were bombs, and even Elemental (which rebounded after a soft opening) wasn’t as big of a draw as the Pixar classics of yesteryear. As a result, people are very curious to see how Pixar’s latest film, Hoppers, fares. We still have to wait a bit for box office projections, but Hoppers is already generating strong word of mouth.
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Well ahead of Hoppers‘ March release date, Pixar showed the film to members of the press, and social media reactions are in. Fortunately, Hoppers is receiving a large amount of praise, with many raving about the movie’s sense of humor, vocal performances, and captivating story. Check out a sampling of the reactions in the space below:
Will Hoppers Be a Box Office Success?
These social media reactions obviously aren’t the same as full written reviews (remember, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man had similarly enthusiastic initial reactions before receiving a more mixed Rotten Tomatoes score), but they still paint an encouraging picture and suggest Hoppers has potential to be something truly special. Assuming the film is as great as these responses suggest, the bigger question is whether or not the reception will translate to box office success. There was a time when the latest Pixar movie was a guaranteed box office lock, but these days, the studio’s sequels are more of a draw, and there are question marks surrounding the original fare.
Elio is a notable example of this trend. Released in the thick of the summer movie season, it posted Pixar’s lowest opening weekend of all time and only grossed $154.2 million worldwide for its entire run. Though Elio earned positive reviews, it faced stiff competition for its target demographic, arriving on the heels of the Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon live-action remakes. There simply wasn’t demand for another family film so soon after those two blockbusters. If Elio had released at a different time of year, it might have been more successful. Competition shouldn’t be an issue for Hoppers, which is opening against the R-rated monster movie The Bride!. It’s also one of the first big animated movies of the year, so it could fill a void in the marketplace.
It’s important for Pixar that Hoppers does well at the box office. The studio has more sequels in development, such as Incredibles 3 and Coco 2, but original films have always been a huge part of Pixar’s DNA. Pixar made a name for itself in the late ’90s and through the 2000s by turning a wide variety of creative original ideas into hit films. As evidenced by the presence of Gatto on the release calendar, Pixar is still interested in making non-sequels, but those need to perform commercially in order to keep getting green lights. If original movies falter while franchise follow-ups thrive, executives may feel the former are no longer worthwhile investments.
The fact that Pixar screened the whole movie now, over a month before the general release date, indicates they’re very confident in the film. They wouldn’t have done something like this unless they were sure Hoppers was going to land with people and generate positive buzz. Now, the movie has a bit of a runway to generate hype and excitement, so it seems as if it’s in a position to succeed. There’s reason to be optimistic about Hoppers, and hopefully it does well.
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Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme -
A photo of the Retrovolt Arcade taken in 2017, showing several classic arcade cabinets and stools. -
Image Courtesy of MAPPA
