Triumphant return: “Inside Out 2 outperforms Dune 2 at the box office
In the national box office, Inside Out 2 outperformed two leaders in terms of opening weekend grosses ($155 million): “The “richest” film of 2024, Denis Villeneuve’s second Dune, and the previous year’s box office giant, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
International (with another $140 million) – brought the cartoon the title of the best animated opening of all time abroad, displacing Frozen with $135 million.
In total, since its debut last week, Inside Out 2 has earned $295 million, surpassing its production budget of $200 million in its opening weekend. Disney and Pixar animation is expected to raise another $80-90 million by next weekend.
Inside Out 2 was Pixar’s second biggest worldwide opening, surpassing 2016’s Finding Dory ($135 million) and 2019’s Toy Story 4 in 2019 ($120 million), but slightly behind The Incredibles 2 in 2018 ($182 million). At the same time, ticket sales for the animated film surpassed the 2015 Oscar-winning original with $90.5 million (the first animated film earned $858 million worldwide).
This is also the first weekend of 2024 to feature a $200 million debut – the previous leader, Dune: Part II, opened with $180 million and ended with $711.8 million, still holding the title of the year’s highest-grossing film.
The 2015 film Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter, told the story of 11-year-old Riley and her five emotions – Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger. In the second film, “new guests” appear in the head of the older protagonist, including Anxiety. Inside Out 2 is directed by Kelsey Mann, and screenwriter Meg Lefov has also returned to the project.
Interestingly, the cartoon’s trailer set its own record earlier, garnering 157 million views in the first 24 hours and becoming the most successful animated trailer launch in Disney’s history. The previous record holders were Frozen 2 with 116.4 million views per day and The Incredibles 2 with 113.6 million views per day.
