Toy Story 4 ended weeks of a box office slump that has plagued movies this summer with an impressive opening but even the mighty Toy Story franchise came in below where many people expected it to land.
Toy Story 4 opened to $120.9 million, up from the $118 million that was initially reported. This is the best franchise opening of the films, topping the $110.3 million opening for Toy Story 3 and it is the fourth largest animated movie opening of all-time. It’s also the third highest opening of 2019 so far. There is a lot to celebrate here, especially since critics love it (98% on Rotten Tomatoes) and moviegoers did too (“A” CinemaScore) so why are some saying they feel Disney left some money on the table here?
While the opening is fantastic, it’s well below the $160 million the film was tracking at heading into the weekend. Some even thought $180-200 million was a possibility and honestly no one can quite pinpoint why the film came in on the lower end of expectations because all signs pointed in its favor to do even better than it did. I do think that the film will have legs and maybe more will discover it now that word of mouth is kicking in. The film pretty much has the marketplace to itself until The Lion King comes out on July 19 so it should be in good shape. Internationally, Toy Story 4 brought in $120 million from 37 markets and a $240 million global launch, the highest worldwide debut for an animated film.
Debuting in second is Child’s Play with $14 million. That’s below the $16-18 million it was tracking at heading into the weekend but it’s a decent enough debut for a film that cost about $10 million to make. The film earned a “C+” CinemaScore which is actually ok for horror but with Annabelle Comes Home arriving Wednesday, Child’s Play won’t have the horror playing field to itself for long. It’ll still do decent business in the end but I’m not sure Orion Pictures can get a sequel out of this because they only have rights to the original film and can’t really do sequels. Having a horror film actually being a one-off is actually kind of refreshing.
Holding in third is Aladdin which grossed $13.2 million. That’s a drop of just 23.5% and that’s an impressive hold considering the film had to deal with the arrival on Toy Story 4. Aladdin is clearly a crowd pleaser and is probably benefitting from repeat viewings. The film has grossed $288.5 million at the domestic box office and now $300 million is a sure thing for the film. Internationally, the film added nearly $33 million this weekend for an overseas gross that now totals $522.6 million and a global tally topping $810 million.
Dropping to fourth is Men In Black: International which cratered as we all expected it would with a gross of $10.7 million. That’s a drop of 64.4% and that pretty much kills any potential franchise hopes for the film. International has grossed $52.6 million at the domestic box office and definitely won’t see $100 million stateside by the end of its run. The $110 million film is performing a bit better overseas but that won’t be enough to save it. Internationally, the film added just over $30 million for an international gross topping $129 million and a worldwide total just over $182 million.
Rounding out the top five is The Secret Life of Pets 2 which grossed $10.2 million. The film dropped 57.9% and definitely took a hit from Toy Story 4. The film has grossed $117.5 million at the domestic box office which isn’t bad considering the $80 million budget but it’s way off from the performance of the first film at this point of its release. The film also added another $10.8 million internationally this weekend for an overseas gross that now totals over $77 million and a global tally just shy of $195 million.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
