‘Inside Out 2’ Delivers 3rd-Best Domestic Animated Opening Of All Time

The launch of Inside Out 2 delivered a new emotion to Hollywood studios and movie theaters: relief.

Much of the last few months have been spent talking about the death of theatrical distribution, but Disney-Pixar’s latest film upended that narrative by posting the third-largest domestic opening ever for an animated film at $154.2 million. Add in $140 million from international markets, and the $294.2 million global launch is among the best ever for animated film.

The stellar launch is a powerful statement for Pixar, which had experienced atypically mild box office runs for its last two theatrical releases. Lightyear opened with $50.5m and Elemental with $29.6m. In its first three days, Inside Out 2 surpassed the entire box office run of Lightyear ($118.3m) and nearly equalled that of Elemental ($154.4m).

The performance of IO2 will no doubt validate Disney CEO Bob Iger’s recent statement that the company’s animation studios will “lean on sequels.” But it’s also important to remember here that Inside Out 2 could not have happened without Pete Docter’s original film in 2015, and that the company’s continued investment in original IP is necessary for such sequels to exist.

IO2 delivered a massive $34,730 per-theater average from 4,440 locations. The film had 12 million admissions, per analytics firm EntTelligence. It’s the first time a film has driven over 10 million admissions since Barbie attracted over 13 million viewers last year.

The Kelsey Mann-directed film’s popularity was driven by Hispanic and Latino audiences, who made up 36% of this weekend’s moviegoers, though they account for only 19% of the U.S. population.

Equally impressive is IO2’s $140 million haul from international markets. That’s less than The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s $172.8 million foreign gross last year, but there’s a caveat. Mario opened in over 70 territories, while I02 opened in just 38. Many major territories are yet to come for I02 including France, China, Brazil, Japan, and Spain.

As in the U.S., I02 played especially well across Latin America, pulling in $61 million regionally. The top international market was Mexico ($30.2m), and it was the biggest opening weekend of all time in Colombia ($5.1m). Other major markets were South Korea ($14.9m), U.K. ($13.9m), Germany ($8.1m), and Philippines ($6.7m).