Weekend Box Office: Toy Story 5 Secures Biggest Opening of the Year
At $171 million, it was also the biggest opening of the franchise and the second best of all time for an animated film.
The Toys that built Pixar are back in theaters and making history again, contributing to the biggest box office weekend of the year: 2026’s first $200 million three-day weekend. Easter and Memorial Day holidays got there, but this is the first Fri-Sun tally since Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning managed to do it all by themselves over last Memorial Day weekend without the actual holiday. Toy Story 5 nearly did it all by itself as well, with one of the biggest animated openings ever and among the top 25 ever.
King of the Crop: Toy Story 5 Secures Biggest Opening of the Year
It has been over 30 years not only since we were introduced to Woody, Buzz and the whole gang but the world truly became aware of Pixar, which would help change animation forever. Toy Story premiered on Nov. 22, 1995 to $29.1 million, which was the third-best start ever for an animated film behind the previous summer’s The Lion King ($40.8 million) and that summer’s Pocahontas ($29.5 million). Four years later, Toy Story 2 set the new bar with a $57.3 million opening for the top animated opening ever.
In 2010, Toy Story 3’s $110.3 million start was second only to Shrek the Third’s $121.6 million at the time. Toy Story 4’s debut of $120.9 million in 2019 ranked fourth behind Incredibles 2 ($182.6 million), Finding Dory ($135.0 million) and, again, just behind Shrek the Third. Now we are here this weekend, and Toy Story 5 just had the second-best opening ever for an animated film with $171 million. That is second only to Incredibles 2’s $183.6 million (Inside Out 2 is third with $154.2 million) and is the 24th-best opening of all time. We are left now to wonder just how far it will climb.
Toy Story 3 and 4 rank 11th and eighth, respectively, among domestic animated grosses with $415 million and $434 million. The fourth film was the fourth-highest grossing at the time, and Toy Story 3 was actually the second-highest grossing ever in 2010 behind only Shrek 2. Toy Story 2 was second only to The Lion King with $245.8 million in 1999. Toy Story 5 just had the 13th-best opening weekend ever. All but three films (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Spider-Man 3, and Batman v Superman) to open over $150 million have crossed $400 million. Incredibles 2 opened on June 15, 2018 (also during the time of the World Cup) and finished with $608.5 million, the eighth-highest ever at the time. It is now 15th. Inside Out 2 grossed over $652 million and is currently ninth all time.
What could be the key difference in their paths is that Incredibles 2 had a four-weekend runway until it was challenged by another family film in Hotel Transylvania 3. And the only other animated film released that summer was Teen Titans GO! To The Movies, which grossed all of $29.7 million (or roughly $600,000 more than Toy Story’s opening weekend in 1995). Toy Story 5, on the other hand, is faced with fierce competition for the family dollar over the next month. In less than two weeks, Illumination’s Minions & Monsters opens, and less than 10 days after that, Disney’s live-action Moana arrives, hoping to replicate those Lilo & Stitch numbers from last summer. Inside Out 2 also faced off against Despicable Me 4 two and a half weeks after its opening, but there were no other new major family releases after that.
Toy Story 5 certainly aligns with the critic scores of the previous four at a Certified Fresh 94% (as well as a Verified Hot 95% on the Popcornmenter). The first two films continue to rock perfect scores of 100%. The third film has a 98%, and don’t let there be any revisionist history about appreciation for the fourth film, which stands at 97%. TS5 also received another A Cinemascore for the franchise. (Toy Story 2 is one of 17 animated films to receive an A+.) The film should be well over $300 million by the end of next weekend, an milestone part four couldn’t achieve until weekend three. The bigger story will start to come into shape starting with Minions and the following week with Moana. Part five is already over $312 million across the world and should have no problem joining the billion-dollar club. The franchise (not counting Lightyear) has now grossed over $3 billion globally.
Rotten Returns: He-Man Has Failed to Master This Universe
Forbes published an optimistic article that Masters of the Universe was “set for sequel” despite no evidence of a greenlight commitment at this point, and we can imagine why with its current numbers. Surely, Amazon has the dough to make it happen, but it is unlikely to be on their immediate agenda after the long-awaited (by fewer than anyone anticipated) big-budget, big-screen adaptation of the toy line and animated series simply crashed and burned in theaters. Three weekends in and the film is down to $5.6 million. That’s just $56.9 million in 17 days of release. June releases that had made more money at this point include Dark Phoenix, The Happening, and Congo.
The film has only just cracked $100 million worldwide. Masters’ budget has been reported as low as $170 million and as high as $200 million. Pandemic releases like Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, and The Matrix Resurrections aside, Masters is going to join a very small list of films to cost as much and not even hit $200 million globally. That is a list that includes Red One, Jack the Giant Slayer, Jupiter Ascending, Evan Almighty, 47 Ronin, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Hugo. If He-Man fails to reach $150 million, he will join an even smaller group that includes Napoleon, Argylle, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and Tron: Ares. Jared Leto just isn’t beating those curse conversations.
Tales of the Top 10: Disclosure Day Cools Down, Obsession Crosses $300 Million Worldwide
We talked a lot last week about Steven Spielberg and his latest, Disclosure Day, as well as a bit of the history of his films at the box office, many of which were able to at least triple their opening weekends. In fact, only two (The BFG and A.I.) failed to do so. After a $44 million start last week, the magic number to reach would be $132 million. Let’s see how it is doing after a $17 million sophomore weekend. That’s a 62% drop, bringing its 10-day total to $78.2 million and numbers that are in the vicinity of Minority Report, which many critics have compared Disclosure Day to in terms of pace and chasing. That film had a $21.5 million second weekend (a 39.5% drop) and $73.4 million after 10 days. Minority’s final gross? $132 million. You can’t make this up.
Other films we can look at for comparisons are a pair of June releases right in line with Disclosure Day’s 10-day total. Ocean’s 8 and Click had $78.5 million and $78.4 million , respectively, with better second weekend tallies of $18.9 million and $19.9 million. A closer weekend would be Live Free or Die Hard’s $17.7 million. That fourth entry in the series had $72.1 million by this point and finished with $134.5 million. Click ended with $137.3 million and Ocean’s 8 did $140.2 million. Disclosure Day reaching a similar total will depend on the drops leveling off to under 40% in the coming weeks.
A notable statistic we are going to get ahead of here is that Steven Spielberg is about to join a small group of filmmakers. As so much has been made recently about the new kids on the block, let’s give it up for the older statesman as well. When Disclosure Day hits $100 million, Spielberg will join only three other filmmakers to release a film over the age of 75 to gross as much. They include Clint Eastwood (American Sniper, Gran Torino, Sully, The Mule), Ridley Scott (The Martian, Gladiator II) and Garry Marshall (Valentine’s Day). Globally, Spielberg’s new $115 million production is over $160 million, and Universal is hoping to see that number double on their way to begin shifting focus to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (not to mention Minions & Monsters).
There will be billion-dollar films this year globally and films that may even hit half a billion in North America. But no box office story this year will be as fascinating as Curry Barker’s Obsession. The budget. His age. The week-to-week increases. It’s the story of the year. For the first time during its run, it had a weekend that was lower than its opening salvo. Last week it had the 18th-best fifth weekend in history. This week it has the 18th-best sixth weekend in history with $14.2 million. The film crossed $200 million on Thursday and by Sunday had made $215.8 million. Domestically it is making its way to over $250 million. It crossed $300 million globally this week ($333 million to date) and it is going to make a run towards $400 million. Incredible.
The fourth weekend of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms brought in $7.3 million. Now over $175 million, it is still hanging on for a shot at $200 million. That is just for the record books, though, as the film is already a tremendous success story. But in using Superman Returns as its parallel, we are seeing it hang on a similar pace with that film’s fourth weekend ($7.37 million) and its 24-day total ($172.9 million). A24 already got its first $100 million domestic grosser out of this (going for $200 million) and their first $300+ million global total. Every dollar going forward is a victory.
As of today there is still no film to open with over $50 million and fail to reach $100 million. Scary Movie will not be the first, but it sure is taking its sweet time after a $54 million start. Here we are on day 17 after a $6.7 million third weekend and its total is at $97.5 million, which brings us to a statistic that we have never broached before. Only five films have ever taken more than 17 days to reach $100 million after a $50+ million opening. The Village and Valentine’s Day took 18 days. Scary Movie will take longer than that. Could it do it in 20 like 8 Mile? How about the 21 days it took Watchmen? Paranormal Activity 3 is the leader in this category, taking a full 23 days to hit the milestone. Scary Movie can certainly shrug that statistic off, given that it just passed $200 million globally — something that its June 5 competitor, Masters of the Universe, looks unlikely to achieve.
As we have been tracking for weeks, The Mandalorian and Grogu is not going to hit the numbers of Solo. Another $3.9 million in just its fifth weekend brings its total to $171.7 million. Even Solo back in 2018 had $4.5 million this weekend, which was enough to at least get it over $200 million. Mando & Grogu are not going to reach that. Our estimate between $170-180 million is holding steady. Maybe those Burger King promotions will help make up some of the dough. Globally the film is only at $325 million. Solo finished just shy of $393 million.
Neon’s latest horror release is a pick-up from this year’s Sundance film festival. They purchased Adrian Chiarella’s Leviticus for a reported $5 million. Critics have been on board, giving it a 93% on the Tomatometer (it was chosen for this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival, which I produce) and audiences have responded with an opening weekend of $2.7 million in 1,076 theaters. That’s less than half of Neon’s May release of Hokum ($6.4 million) and last summer’s Together ($6.7 million). But its per-theater-average was higher than that of Sydney Sweeney in Immaculate ($5.33 million), plus Steven Soderbergh’s Presence ($3.32 million) and Cuckoo ($3.03 million). That said, it was higher than Keeper ($2.52 million) and Shelby Oaks ($2.34 million), which were released into 1,950 & 1,823 theaters, respectively. Too bad Neon couldn’t get this one into more theaters. None of these horror films have found a final gross as high as the opening weekend ($22.4 million) of their breakout success, Longlegs.
A24 did not take Michael Sarnoski’s new film, The Death of Robin Hood, on the festival road apart from a premiere at the Sydney Film Festival last Friday. Critics have been a fan of his work, starting with 2021’s Pig (97%) and then A Quiet Place: Day One (86%). The fresh streak continues, albeit less impressively (it’s currently at 70%) with the Hugh Jackman starrer that opened to only $2.62 million this weekend. That is lower than Woody Allen’s Scoop, starring Jackman and Scarlett Johansson, did back in 2006. It opened to $3 million in just 538 theaters, while Robin Hood was in three times as many with 1,762. Jackman’s turn in 2021’s Reminiscence opened lower with $1.95 million in 3,265 theaters, but that was also available on HBO MAX during Warner Bros.’ pandemic experiment. The $1,486 per-theater average is not A24’s worst for a wide release of over 1,500 theaters. Pearl ($1,065), Y2K ($1,003), The Front Room ($794), and Opus ($574) came in lower, but the $20 million production is now in the bottom five of that list unless the estimates come in higher on Monday to best Men’s $1,496 PTA.
It may be the last stand for Antoine Fuqua’s Michael in the top 10. Nine weeks is not too shabby. Project Hail Mary may still be this year’s leader with 10 but Michael has bested it domestically with nearly $368 million (with $2.19 million added this week) and now over $959 million worldwide. The billion-dollar watch is still in effect. Can it catch The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which sits with $1.002 billion worldwide?
Beyond the Top 10: Hayley Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls Debuts
Hayley Kiyoko’s song-to-book-to-movie adaptation of Girls Like Girls opened in 504 theaters this weekend, and the Focus release began with $1.6 million. Lionsgate’s release of The Furious made $1.1 million in its second weekend for a total of $5.2 million. Bleecker Street’s Stop! That! Train! fell 76% to just $487,000, bringing its total to $3.2 million.
On The Vine: Supergirl Launches and Jackass Ends
The next chapter of James Gunn’s DC Universe arrives next week with Milly Alcock as Supergirl. Will this follow in the footsteps of last summer’s Superman, or will its numbers be closer to The Flash? The final chapter of Johnny Knoxville and his gang of merry pranksters and stunt creators arrives as Paramount releases Jackass: Best and Last. Finally, Olivia Wilde’s Sundance hit The Invite, with Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton, and herself, arrives in limited release from A24 before expanding throughout July.
Full List of Box Office Results: June 19-21
- Toy Story 5 – $160.0 million ($160.0 million total)
- Disclosure Day – $17.0 million ($78.2 million total)
- Obsession – $14.2 million ($215.8 million total)
- Backrooms – $7.3 million ($175.1 million total)
- Scary Movie – $6.7 million ($97.5 million total)
- Masters of the Universe – $5.6 million ($56.9 million total)
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu – $3.9 million ($171.7 million total)
- Leviticus – $2.7 million ($2.7 million total)
- The Death of Robin Hood – $2.6 million ($2.6 million total)
- Michael – $2.1 million ($367.9 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by Pixar
