Amy Poehler plays Joy (second from left) in “Inside Out 2.”
Disney/Pixar
Embarrassed? Barely. Sad and fearful? Certainly not. Happy? Absolutely. That was the mood on the morning of June 17 when Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman opened the champagne to toast those who had worked to make and market Inside Out 2, which is the first box office blockbuster of the year. “It’s been a long time since we’ve done this,” said one person attending the celebration on Disney’s Burbank grounds, referring to tough times for the once-invincible Pixar, where Pete Docter also hosted a toast.
For its part, Pixar delivered a film that won over critics and audiences by continuing the story of Riley, now 13 years old and who must face a new team of emotions that invade her head in addition old standbys, led by Joy (Amy Poehler). And Disney orchestrated a marketing campaign that stayed true to message and resonated with moviegoers around the world. “Many people have extensive knowledge of the 2015 Upside down, so for us it was much more about finding something new and accessible to as many people as possible, in as many demographics as possible. Everyone has turned 13, or will, and you’re going to be flooded with a whole new set of emotions,” said Martha Morrison, the recently promoted Walt Disney Studios executive vice president of marketing, who led campaign (she was also in charge of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apeswhich had been one of the few solid swings of the summer).
The film opened with a historic $154.2 million domestically, the second-biggest animated debut of all time and the biggest since. barbie almost a year ago. And it’s doing huge deals in midweek, where it’s also doing near-record deals. On Tuesday, it grossed $29.1 million, the biggest Tuesday ever for an animated film and the eighth-biggest among all films. Inside Out 2 It is also a force of nature abroad, where it debuted with nearly $300 million, a record if we compare markets on a like-for-like basis.
Inside Out 2 It couldn’t have come too soon. Year-to-date revenues lagged behind last year by more than 25 percent. Now, thanks to the one-two punch of Pixar’s sequel and Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die, cinema attendance is on the rise, with revenues up two points since the start of the year, according to Comscore. During the weekend of June 7 to 9, Bad Boys 4 began the rebound with a better-than-expected domestic opening of $56.5 million. In its second weekend, it only dropped 40 percent, even with Inside Out 2 suck up most of the oxygen (the Barbenheimer effect at work).
Historically, white moviegoers made up 40 to 50 percent of a Pixar film’s audience nationally. In the case of Inside Out 2, there has been a noticeable change. Latinos made up 38 percent, followed by Caucasians (34 percent), black moviegoers (13 percent), Asian moviegoers (10 percent) and Native Americans/others (5 percent), according to one of the real-time surveys from PostTrak over the weekend. Sources say Inside Out 2 would never have reached the kind of numbers it did without that level of diversity. At the same time, the film is marketed around Riley and emotions, not any particular character’s ethnicity (although various races and ethnicities are notably a part of Riley’s world).
Since his return as CEO of Disney and his confrontation with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, notably over a homosexual kiss in Light year, Bob Iger said that films don’t work if they are solely focused on messaging rather than entertainment, and that some Disney titles had indeed strayed into the messaging arena at their peril ( he never mentioned any names). “Look, we’re trying to reach a very, very diverse audience,” Iger said last fall. “And we just need to be more responsive to the interest of a broad audience.” »
Latinos over-index on movies, especially family photos. Elementaryfor example, rebounded significantly thanks to strong participation from Latinos, a detail that did not escape Disney when embarking on the sale. Inside Out 2. Elementary ultimately earned $496.4 million worldwide, while DC The flashwhich opened the same weekend to $55 million, soared with $271 million worldwide.
Disney is still working with Univision and Telemundo, but has done more custom integrations than usual, including showcasing all the emotions of the film in a new game show on Univision. And in Mexico, spots were broadcast during the last Club America versus Club Azole match. Inside Out 2 is on fire throughout Latin America and is posting near-record numbers in many markets, including Mexico, where it earned $30.2 million, ranking it as the second-biggest startup in all the time. And it was Hollywood’s biggest opening ever in Colombia ($5.1 million).
In the United States, Morrison held a major press conference in Miami, one of several stops on the film’s world tour that included Amy Poehler, who plays the character Joy. (Morrison says the star’s efforts have been invaluable in increasing awareness).
While children under 12 made up a large portion of the opening weekend audience (23%) Inside Out 2, there was a huge nostalgia factor among young adults who grew up with the first film. In an 11-hour stunt designed to appeal to all age groups – and in a first for Disney – the Joy and Sadness characters usually confined to Disney theme parks visited select theaters over Memorial Day weekend and then again when the film opens. This is the first time a character has been allowed to leave a theme park, showing just how much there is to do. Inside Out 2.
Marketers knew they were going to attract younger adults based on the response to early teasers and so, among other things, organized a “college footage tour” and screened the first 35 minutes of the film at 20 universities in the United States. UNITED STATES. It paid off. Nearly 55 of the participants were not from the general public, with nearly 40 percent aged 18 to 34, according to Comscore.
“When you see an animated film get those kinds of numbers, clearly you have a ton of people coming in without kids,” Morrison says.
The nostalgia factor is also in full force overseas, notably in South Korea, where affluent young women known as “YAF” wield enormous consumer power. Inside Out 2 opened to $14.9 million in South Korea, the second highest animated opening of all time behind Frozen II. YAFs are also a phenomenon in Japan, one of several major markets where Inside Out 2 has not yet opened.
A lot has changed in the nine years since Upside down was released in theaters for the first time, but the emotions – joy, sadness, sorrow, fear, longing, embarrassment, boredom and anxiety – are universal. And joy is certainly what Pixar and Disney are feeling Inside Out 2the first results. The same goes for the entire industry.
“The importance of Inside Out 2 “It can’t be overstated that both Pixar and movie theaters have struggled to deliver consistent box office results in 2024,” said Paul Dergarabedian, chief box office analyst at Comscore. As the first $100 million-plus opening film of ’24 and as a morale- and revenue-boosting juggernaut, it’s the perfect cure for the summer box office blues. »
A version of this story appeared in the June 18 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.