It’s looking to be a fantastic weekend for Pixar’sIncredibles 2. The highly anticipated sequel scored a whopping $18.5 million from Thursday night showings, destroyingFinding Dory’s previous animated film record of $9.2 million. That’s also a higher Thursday night preview gross thanSpider-Man: Homecoming($15.4 million),Thor: Ragnarok($14.5 million), and Disney’s live-actionBeauty and the Beast($16.3 million), all of which went on to have opening weekends north of $100 million.
Indeed, tracking suggestsIncredibles 2will earn somewhere between $125 million and $140 million this weekend, and it has a shot at the record for an animated film’s opening weekend.Finding Dory, another long-awaited Pixar sequel, currently holds that honor at $135 million.
Helping matters is solid reviews forIncredibles 2, and obviously the fact that it’s technically a superhero movie. When writer/directorBrad Bird’sThe Incredibleswas first released in 2004, the superhero genre was just starting to become what it is today, bolstered by the success of dynamic adaptations likeSpider-ManandX-Men. Of course we now live in a world inundated by superhero stories, and those who saw the firstIncrediblesas kids have literally grown up surrounded by superhero movies. That bodes well for heavy interest on opening weekend.
While 2017’sCars 3was something of a disaster for Pixar—it grossed only $383 million worldwide in the wake ofCars 2’s $562 million take—the studio’s second 2017 film,Coco, was a quiet smash. AlthoughLee Unkrich’s film grossed only $50 million opening weekend, it held incredibly strong week after week and amassed over $800 million worldwide for its entire run.
Incredibles 2looks to continue to the winning streak, and the question now is whether it’ll crack $1 billion.Finding Dorydid, andIncredibles 2is already tracking ahead of that film, so the chances are certainly high.
Check back on Collider this weekend as box office results continue to come in.
