Onward and Upward as Pixar Rules the Box Office Once Again

Onward and upward as Pixar rules the Box Office once again

Pixar scored yet another #1 opening at the box office as Onward took in an estimated $40 million domestically, on the lower end of expectations. Unfortunately, the well-reviewed fantasy original earned one of the lowest openings in the studio’s history, the lowest since their dud The Good Dinosaur opened at #2 with $39.2 million in 2015. Overseas it also had a lackluster debut with $28 million, for a $68 million total. A non-IP movie with a complex premise was always going to be a hard sell, but hopefully good word of mouth (the film has an A- on CinemaScore) will help keep the Dan Scanlon-directed pic afloat.

Dropping one place to #2 is Universal’s hit monster movie The Invisible Man, which scored $15.1 million over the three-day for a $52.6 million domestic take and $98.2 million worldwide. That’s all for a movie that cost a paltry $7 million before advertising.

Opening at #3 was the Warner Bros. sports drama The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck. The film took in $8.5 million, on the lower end of expectations for the $20 million dollar film.

Paramount’s hit video game adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog fell from #2 to #4 with $7.9 million for a $140.8 million domestic take and $295.6 million worldwide. The film is now only a hair’s breath away from passing Pokémon Detective Pikachu‘s $144.1 million domestic take.

20th Century Studios’ The Call of the Wild fell two places to #5 with $7 million for a $57.4 million domestic take and a worldwide haul of $114.9 million.

Finally, expanding domestically to #6 is Focus Features’ new take on Jane Austin’s Emma with $5 million for a $6.8 million stateside total and $20.8 million worldwide. By comparison, the 1996 version of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow earned $22 million domestically and $37.8 million worldwide (not adjusted for inflation), a high benchmark for the new one to reach.