The Newest Member of The Billion-Dollar Film Club
Flashy Pixels Issue 16: How Blockbuster Movies Keep Disrupting Industry Experts Box Office Doom Narrative
Last weekend, Inside Out 2 shattered expectations, becoming the first billion-dollar film of the year. It reached this milestone in just nineteen days, faster than any other animated film. The previous record-holder was Frozen 2, which achieved it in twenty-five days.
Inside Out 2, a sequel to the critically and financially successful 2015 original, features the voice of Saturday Night Live alum Amy Poehler. It is now the fifty-fourth film overall and the eleventh animated film to achieve the billion-dollar benchmark. The first movie to reach this milestone was 1997's Titanic. Notably, nine films joined this club in 2019, the year before the pandemic caused a significant financial downturn for movie theaters.
Inside Out 2 enjoyed a three-week reign atop the box office, most recently outperforming A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to the successful horror franchise. Even in second place, A Quiet Place: Day One had an impressive $53 million opening weekend, both a franchise-best and well above the $40 million industry tracking had predicted.
Last year, two films, Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, reached the billion-dollar mark. Many industry watchers dismissed this as a temporary anomaly in the overall decline of movie theaters. In 2021, technology reporter Kara Swisher opined in The New York Times, "When streaming is an option, given the decline in the price of home theaters and the boom in streaming capabilities, increasing numbers of people will take it. And the theater business, including struggling chains, will continue to shrink, and labor to sell tickets."
Despite widespread speculation about streaming's impact on theater attendance, box office returns tell a different story, with the demographics of moviegoers being particularly noteworthy. Inside Out 2 has convinced families and teenagers to venture out to their local cinema, two demographics most likely to rely on streaming services for their entertainment needs.
This success is a much-needed win for Pixar Studios, which has struggled recently with disappointing results from films like Soul, Turning Red, and Lightyear. Pixar, a studio that began in 1986 with Apple's Steve Jobs as a majority stakeholder, has historically been a powerhouse, producing cultural touchstones like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and WALL-E, all Oscar winners.
There are still some big summer blockbusters that have yet to drop. Deadpool & Wolverine, the third film in the popular Deadpool superhero series, was predicted by many as the summer's highest-grossing movie. It faces a significant challenge to unseat Inside Out 2, but if audiences keep coming out, the lack of competition in the caper genre this summer might still make it a contender.
While the future of the movie theater business is still unclear, what is becoming evident is that the pandemic was not the final nail in the coffin, as some had predicted. Despite the convenience and comfort of home entertainment, audiences have demonstrated a persistent desire to gather in cinemas for the shared experience of watching films on the big screen when a compelling movie is released. Audiences know, as Nicole Kidman's pre-show message at AMC theaters has been reminding them, "Heartbreak feels good in a place like this."