'Inside Out 2' Will Have Pixar Jumping For Joy as Their Biggest Opening in Five Years - Ticket Sales Tracking (6/10-6/13)

Hi,

I've been tracking ticket sales for movies recently at my two local NJ AMCs that do fairly well.

Last time we met, we had what was looking to be one the worst Memorial Days at the movies in decades. Sadly, the two openers, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and The Garfield Movie, did indeed face their disappointing dooms, but it could have been much worse. Even though it could not reach the heights of its 2015 predecessor, Furiosa was able to outpace my tepid $2.67M Thurs and $5.77M Fri expectations. While the awards hopeful prequel was able to speed passed my $8.44M Thurs+Fri opening, this is by no means a success story for WB. As the first animated feature in over two months, The Garfield Movie did not have much luck either. Yes, my $1.34M Thurs prediction was right on the money and actuals went above my $5.11M Fri guesstimate. Still, predicting a lower than actual $6.95M Pre+Thurs+Fri is not much say praise about when original expectations were much higher. At least the cynical feline has a couple lives left thanks to a $60M budget and some very leggy weeks. For Furiosa, the same cannot be said as its dismal opening is nothing against the $168M price-tag and its disasturous legs were just the nail in the coffin. We really need a success story for this Summer season soon...

Turns out last week was a saving grace for theaters as Bad Boys: Ride or Die was the first summer offering to not disappoint in over a month with a $56M opening against a $100M budget. While Big Willie is back, theaters are looking to get served with another return to form as Disney/Pixar is hoping to have its biggest opening since 2019. Nine years after after the universally acclaimed juggernaut, Inside Out 2 is feeling pretty confident as the savior of the studio who has had a pretty rough half-decade. Yes, the pandemic did cut short the run of Onward and reasonably moved Soulto streaming, but poor corporate decisions devalued the once untouchable brand with too many excellent titles being removed from theaters and now have had two underwhelming performances back to back. Now, in a world where families were starting to get trained to wait for their latest films to be unveiled on Disney+, the Mouse House is correcting course by eventizing their most iconic modern property. Hopefully, the damage of the last five years has not been too detrimental. Following in the footsteps as previous Pixar releases on Father's Day with a big marketing push, an ideal comp is Elemental. I have recorded ticket sales for this Thursday and Friday for 3 Days. The green bars are how much ticket sales increased from day to day.

Looks like school is finally out of session as these Thursday sales are some of the best seen in months. Even with strong presales, the week of tickets have shown heavy growth on a day by day basis. With these numbers, IO2 is aiming for a $11.09M compared to Elemental. Looks like the troubled Pixar will finally be jumping for joy with numbers like these. Not only would this be the highest Pixar preview showing since pre-Covid, but the highest Disney animated preview since 2019 with Frozen II. Feels good to be back. Clearly, audiences have been highly anticipating this entry over the nine years as the theater capacities are at?M:?8.84%?and EH: 23.01%.? While the demand is stronger at Theater 2, a very family-friendly location, Theater 1 has enough space for even more last minute walk-ups. Compared to Elemental, IO2 is showing more than double the demand, which saw capacities at M:?4.73%?and EH:?7.00%. Not only was this the box office restart that Disney needed, but one that the Summer season needed as a whole.

Thankfully, Friday is looking to continue the Pixar box office resurgence as tickets, like Thursday, have had extremely strong growth after their initial heavy presales. At this rate, IO2 is looking at a $34.77M Friday compared to Elemental. After such an underwhelming few years, it is so encouraging to see a Pixar title with numbers like these again. To not much surprise, the demand is even stronger on Friday with M:?16.63%?and EH:?48.91% as more families are available to go together. With such strong capacities at Theater 2, growth may be stunted, but there are still enough seats to be filled. Compared to Elemental, the demand for IO2 is stronger as the 2023 original was at M:?7.15%?and EH:?29.66%. With demands so strong at Theater 2, this can signify a heavy walk-up potential for any available showings. One important thing to note is the heavier than average capacities at the late evening shows. Yes, not only is IO2 performing well at their direct audience, but is also reaching out to the 18-24 crowd that grew up with the first entry. Do not be surprised if estimates here continue to go up and up.

Overall, this will bring Inside Out 2 to a Th+F opening of?$45.86M. Easily, this is a much needed win for the beloved animated studio. Would it be nice if this huge audience was for one of its original properties? Sure, but a win is a win. If these numbers hold up, we can be looking at a $113MFather's Day weekend. Not too abnormal to the studio, but the $200M is no stranger here and with numbers like these, Pixar should have the confidence for their next few features. Look out for this to hang around and leg out through the Summer unless a certain despicable family film takes away too much off the spotlight.

I have taken some suggestions to help make this post better. Please comment if you have anymore!

TL;DR:

Thursday:?$11.09M

Friday:?$34.77M

Opening Day:?$45.86M