Pixar's latest movie, Hoppers, is exceeding expectations at the North American box office after being hailed by critics as one of the studio's best movies yet.
It opened at #1 this weekend, grossing an expected $40 million to $45 million. It's now the biggest opening for an original animated movie post-COVID, beating The Wild Robot ($35.8 million), which was based on a hugely successful series of books. Hoppers has also topped Onward's $39.1 million, landing the biggest weekend for a Pixar original since Coco's $50.8 million.
The movie has also been awarded a glowing A CinemaScore, which bodes well for word of mouth combined with its 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer (it also has 94% on the fan-generated Popcornmeter).
As a refresher, CinemaScore is a market research firm that surveys audience reactions to newly released movies.
After attending opening night screenings, moviegoers rate films on an A+ to F scale, providing insights into audience satisfaction. Widely used in the film industry, CinemaScore helps gauge movies' initial reception and influences box office predictions based on audience feedback.
There wasn't much in the way of good news for The Bride! this weekend. That's received a dire C+ CinemaScore, and is on track to make only $8 million to $10 million (some believe it could open with as little as $6.5 million).
As a result, Maggie Gyllenhaal-helmed horror movie starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale looks set to be one of Warner Bros.' lowest-ever openings. With an $80 million budget, this is a disaster.
Deadline explains, "Period horror is typically expensive and risky (hence why Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein went to Netflix; that said the streamer passed on The Bride! given its budget). Period horror divides genre and sophisticated moviegoers, the Bride! making its play toward the latter. 'It’s an A24 genre movie,' said one industry source, but it’s at a significantly much higher production cost."
"'The motion picture industry is in such a fragile state, we can’t afford misses like this. Scripts should be better baked,' cried the same source. The word was always out that The Bride! was a challenge to pin down during post-production. Most first cuts start out messy and long; some are harnessed and course-corrected, and others like this, I hear, were hard to land in regards to pacing."
In Disney and Pixar's Hoppers, animal lover Mabel (voice of Piper Curda) seizes an opportunity to use a new technology to ‘hop’ her consciousness into a lifelike robotic beaver and communicate directly with animals.
As she uncovers mysteries in the animal world beyond anything she could have imagined, Mabel befriends charismatic beaver King George (voice of Bobby Moynihan) and must rally the entire animal kingdom to face a major, imminent human-threat: smooth-talking local mayor Jerry Generazzo (voice of Jon Hamm). The all-star voice ensemble also features Meryl Streep, Dave Franco and Kathy Najimy.
In our review of Hoppers, we concluded, "Hoppers is another perfect Pixar film that's laugh-out-loud funny and wonderfully heartfelt, boasting a strong, moving message that will stick with you long after the credits roll. Or, to put it another way, ❤️🦫🪵."
Hoppers is directed by Daniel Chong and is now playing in theaters, alongside The Bride!