“Inside Out 2” is coming to theaters and could run for 100 days. Here’s why it’s increasingly rare

“Inside Out 2” has already grossed $13 million from Thursday night previews in North America. For comparison, 2019’s “Toy Story 4” generated $12 million in its Thursday previews and took in $120.9 million for its opening weekend.

Any opening number above $50 million would be a boon for Pixar, which has struggled to regain its footing at the box office in the wake of the pandemic. However, Disney appears confident in “Inside Out 2” as the film is expected to have a 100-day theatrical release, an almost unheard of time these days for animated features and non-blockbuster action films.

While most consumers are agnostic about theatrical release windows – the period of weeks or months during which a film is shown exclusively in theaters before being released via streaming or other on-demand options – for Cinema exhibitors and box office analysts say a three-month-plus commitment to big-screen exclusivity is a big deal.

Before the pandemic, the industry standard was what’s known as the 90-day theatrical window (although the average is actually closer to around 75 days, according to market research company The Numbers).

Only a handful of films would extend beyond that date – usually massive franchises or blockbuster hits. After this time, a film could enter the home video space, which included digital downloads, DVD and Blu-Ray discs, and availability on streaming sites. Films would continue to be shown in theaters after this date, but would then compete with sales on the domestic market.

When the pandemic hit and theaters were forced to close, studios had to decide whether to wait to release their films until theaters reopened or put them on streaming or video on demand during the pandemic. ‘interval.

Disney was one of the companies that chose to bring a number of its animated offerings to the domestic market during this time.

As movie theaters began to reopen, studios renegotiated how long films had to stay on the big screen before they could be released domestically. After all, new Covid variants and a vaccine not yet widely available have led many moviegoers to stay home. The result was a period of widely varying exclusivity, with each studio negotiating its own deal with the major theater chains.

For example, Universal and Focus Features signed a deal that required films to be shown in theaters for at least three weekends, or 17 days, before those films could move to premium video-on-demand platforms.

“Ninety-day windows were always going to be untenable,” said Jeff Kaufman, senior vice president of cinema and marketing at Malco Theaters. “The pandemic has kind of accelerated that.”

Changing movie theater windows have presented studios and theaters with a complex equation.

Studios had pushed to reduce the window before the pandemic to reduce marketing expenses, explained Daniel Loria, senior vice president of content strategy and editorial director at Box Office Company.

Studios would pay large sums to market films for theatrical release, and then, a few months later, had to again generate buzz for a film’s transition to the domestic market. With shorter windows, studios don’t need to spend as much to refamiliarize audiences with a film because it’s likely still fresh in their minds from its debut.

“My feeling about movies being released (premium video on demand) earlier is generally a decision not to double down on marketing spend,” Loria said.

Last year, the average length of a widely released film was 39 days, according to The Numbers. So far in 2024, the average duration is 29 days. Of course, as bigger blockbuster titles are released over the summer months, this figure is expected to increase.

There are cases where studios have extended their releases well beyond the typical theatrical window. In 2022, for example, Paramount and Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick” ran for more than 200 days in theaters before heading domestically.

And these numbers only relate to when a film becomes available for rental domestically. Typically, the wait for movies to become available on subscription streaming services, which are often considered “free” by these subscribers, is much longer.

The Numbers reported that the average time from theatrical release to streaming subscription launch was 108 days in 2023.

Early on, there were experiments with day-and-date releases, meaning films would be released in theaters and streaming at the same time. But that faded when studios realized that these simultaneous releases were cannibalizing sales and leading to increased piracy rates.

It should also be taken into account that many actors and directors have contractual stipulations that grant them a percentage of theatrical earnings. In 2021, actress Scarlet Johannson sued Disney for releasing the 2020 Marvel film “Black Widow” on streaming and in theaters at the same time. She claimed that her deal with the company guaranteed an exclusive theatrical release for her solo film and that her salary was based, largely, on box office performance. Johannson and Disney then settled for an undisclosed monetary sum.

Still, Universal has tried the day-and-date model for horror films around Halloween, most recently choosing to release “Five Nights at Freddy’s” in theaters and on streamer Peacock at the same time. While the film had a stellar opening weekend, topping $80 million at the domestic box office, ticket sales were down more than 76% in the second weekend, to just 19 millions of dollars.

Of course, shorter exclusivity and lower ticket sales can be bad for theater chains, which are still struggling to restart operations post-Covid. But some argue that a bad window can also be bad for the film.

“A sufficient release window is important not only to exhibitors, but also to our studio partners, as it is necessary to deliver the full promotional and financial benefits of a film’s theatrical release, which continue to improve “significantly increases the value of the film across all distribution channels, including streaming,” said Sean Gamble, president and CEO of Cinemark.

It’s a lesson Disney has learned in the wake of the pandemic.

Walt Disney Animation and Pixar have struggled to regain a foothold at the box office after pandemic restrictions eased and audiences returned to theaters. This was largely due to Disney choosing to release a handful of animated feature films directly to the Disney+ streaming service while theaters were closed and even after theaters reopened.

The company has sought to supplement its new streaming service with content, stretching its creative teams and sending theatrical films directly to digital.

This dynamic resulted in parents seeking out new Disney titles on streaming, not in theaters, even when Disney chose to bring its films back to the big screen.

Due to this and other challenges, no Disney animated feature film from Pixar or Walt Disney Animation has generated more than $480 million at the worldwide box office since 2019. For comparison, just before the pandemic , “Coco” grossed $796 million worldwide, while “The Incredibles 2” grossed $1.24 billion worldwide, and “Toy Story 4” raked in $1.07 billion at worldwide.

Box office experts view “Inside Out 2” as a barometer of Pixar’s health and its future. If the film manages to capture audiences’ attention and perform well during its opening weekend and beyond, animation studios will regain goodwill among audiences and the industry.

A 100-day window for “Inside Out 2” could be key.

Disney is one of the only studios without a traditional premium video-on-demand window, according to Sebastian Gomez, a researcher and data analyst at The Numbers. This means that once the theatrical window opens, it will go to Disney+ where subscribers can watch it for free, rather than a middle-of-the-road rental option.

By delaying its home release, Disney is signaling to audiences that its latest Pixar release is a “must see” on the big screen.

The first “Inside Out” film, released in theaters in 2015, generated $90.4 million in its opening weekend and raked in more than $850 million at the worldwide box office.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.