Inside Out 2 is poised to have one of Pixar’s biggest box office opening weekends ever. The sequel follows the continued journey of the emotions inside the head of 13-year-old Riley Anderson (Kensington Tallman), who have to make room for new, more complex emotions including Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). The Inside Out 2 release comes almost exactly nine full years after the original 2015 Pixar hit, which is the sixth highest-grossing Pixar movie ever with a worldwide box office total of $857.6 million.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Inside Out 2 is projected to close out its opening weekend with a 3-day total between $140 and $150 million at the domestic box office. Even at the lower bound of that range, this is by far the biggest opening weekend of 2024, significantly ahead of the previous No. 1 opening, which was Dune: Part Two at $82.5 million. It could also become the second highest-grossing opening weekend ever for a Pixar movie, falling behind only Incredibles 2‘s $182.7 million.

The Inside Out 2 Box Office Is A Staggering Success

The New Pixar Movie Is Performing Well By Any Measure

The Inside Out 2 box office is already a success by almost any measure. In addition to having already nearly made back its $200 million budget in just one major region in a single weekend, it seems to be cementing a position in the Top 5 Pixar movies of all time by the end of its run. Considering how well it’s performing compared to the original movie, which is currently No. 6 on the company’s chart, it seems destined for good things. Below, see how the new movie compares with the original:

If the movie can keep up this box office lead, which is possible considering that Inside Out 2 reviews have earned it a Certified Fresh 92% Rotten Tomatoes score, its worldwide total could eventually exceed $1 billion. This would make it at least the fifth highest-grossing Pixar movie ever, behind Finding Dory ($1.03 billion), Toy Story 3 ($1.067 billion), Toy Story 4 ($1.073 billion), and Incredibles 2 ($1.24 billion). Considering how close No. 4 through No. 2 are, Inside Out 2 could follow the lead of its opening weekend and land in second place on the overall chart as well.

In addition to succeeding when compared to the original movie and Pixar’s overall chart, Inside Out 2 is leading a major turnaround for the company. Although their 2023 title Elemental turned out to be a sleeper hit, Pixar has been in a period of box office doldrums since the release of Toy Story 4 in 2019. In fact, the opening weekend of this new sequel has already outgrossed the entire domestic run of their 2022 flop Lightyear, which only made $118.3 million in North America.

Source: Deadline