For the first time since Warner Bros.â âBarbieâ took the box office by storm last summer, the team at Shankweilerâs Drive-In Theatre in Orefield, Pa., has been forced to turn dozens of cars away from its four-acre, 300-parking space lot.
The cause? Huge demand for Pixarâs âInside Out 2.â
âIt was a very hard winter. It was a bumpy spring,â said the drive-inâs co-owner, Lauren McChesney. âThis has kind of changed everything for us right now.â
For months, theater owners have been lamenting the sorry state of the box office. Ticket sales are down 24% so far this year compared to 2023. Would-be blockbusters, including âFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagaâ and âThe Fall Guy,â have fizzled.
But the success of âInside Out 2â has brought welcome relief to beleaguered theater owners, as well as Walt Disney Co.-owned Pixar, especially during the all-important summer movie season.
The sequel to 2015âs âInside Outâ notched a massive domestic opening weekend, hauling in $155 million, shattering pre-release projections that ranged from $80 million to $100 million. The movieâs total global box office revenue is now about $295 million.
âWe thought that it would be popular,â McChesney said. âWe werenât actually expecting it to sell out.â
Analysts said the movie lighted a spark for this quarterâs box office revenue, providing hope that this yearâs box office declines are a reversible trend.
âYou never want to get too high after one good weekend, and you never want to get too low after a bad box office weekend, but I look at this weekend as the start of something bigger,â said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at Roth MKM.
Though the movie has been a hit with families, young adults turned out too. Moviegoers ages 18 to 34 accounted for 37% of the opening weekend domestic audience for âInside Out 2,â according to Disney. That demographic has been tough for studios to entice in recent months and suggests Pixar was able to tap into moviegoersâ nostalgia, said Daniel Loria, senior vice president at the Boxoffice Co.
âIt was able to capture a specific part of the audience that we really havenât seen over-index so far,â he said.
Last yearâs dual labor strikes delayed the release of some anticipated movies, leading to an overall weaker lineup. Though âInside Out 2â will be a bright spot of success, box office revenue for the second quarter will still likely be down significantly compared to last year, Handler said.
âThings will get better, but we havenât fully turned the corner yet,â he said. âBut there are definitely better days ahead.â
The movieâs success is also a win for famed computer animation studio Pixar, which has had a rough time since the pandemic abruptly cut short its release of âOnwardâ in 2020 and resulted in its next three titles (âSoul,â âLucaâ and âTurning Redâ) going directly to streaming on Disney+.
Its first movie back in theaters (âLightyearâ) tanked, and although 2023âs âElementalâ ended up having long legs, the company hasnât landed a bonafide blockbuster like this since âToy Story 4â five years ago.
âHalf a decade is an entire generation of kids that donât experience these movies at the movie theater,â said Loria. âSo the fact that they were able to create this moviegoing moment … is hugely valuable for Pixar.â
The combination of âInside Out 2â and Sony Picturesâ Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-led âBad Boys: Ride or Dieâ is a âgreat springboardâ into the rest of the summer season, said Jeff Kaufman, chief content officer at Malco Theatres, a chain with 34 locations across six states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The Memphis, Tenn.-based chain knew from pre-sale numbers that âInside Out 2â would be big but had no idea that walk-up ticket sales would also be as in demand, he said.
âPeople just kept coming,â Kaufman said. âTheaters were prepared, we had enough screens allocated and seats allocated … but whatâs it been, a year? The last one thatâs been this big was âBarbie,â so you lose your muscle memory on the operational side going, âWhat do we do with all these people?ââ
Kaufman quotes Newtonâs law of inertia when it comes to moviegoing habits: An object in motion stays in motion. With the success of âInside Out 2,â and the strong slate of movies coming after it, he hopes audiences keep returning throughout the fall and holiday season.
Thereâs reasons for optimism. Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainmentâs family-friendly âDespicable Me 4â and the irreverent R-rated Marvel crossover âDeadpool and Wolverineâ are both headed to theaters next month. Multiplexes are also anticipating a strong end-of-year showing with heavy-hitters such as âGladiator 2,â âMoana 2,â âWickedâ and âJoker: Foie a Deux.â
âItâs safe to call [âInside Out 2â] the turning point of 2024,â Loria said. âWithout this over-performance, it would be a very different conversation weâd be having in terms of sentiment around the summer box office.â