Pixar‘s Hoppers has had a huge box office debut, taking in $88 million worldwide during its first weekend in theaters.
This is the best opening weekend for a Pixar movie ever, as well as the best opening weekend for an original animated movie since Coco in 2017, beating 2024’s The Wild Robot to the title (Zootopia 2 had a $556 million opening weekend, but is a sequel). Pixar’s other original output in the last nine years has included Turning Red, Elio, and Elemental.
“I do think Pixar is still investing very hard in original film,” the movie’s director Daniel Chong told GamesRadar+. “They understand that you can’t keep making sequels. Originals have to exist. So, I do feel like they’re one of the few studios that are really going hard on making more originals, and I’m excited to see what the future for Pixar brings.”
Hoppers has been a hit with critics, too, and debuted to Pixar’s best Rotten Tomatoes score in nine years (although it’s now slipped a little to a still-impressive 94%).
The movie follows the escapades of animal lover Mabel, who hijacks new technology to transfer her mind into a robotic beaver in order to communicate with her local wildlife and save their habitat from destruction. “Chaotic, unhinged, we wanted all those things,” Chong told us.
Elsewhere at the box office, The Bride! hit theaters to a much more disappointing $7 million against a budget of $80 million. Starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s latest turn in the director’s chair is a retelling of the story of the Bride of Frankenstein.
Hoppers is out now in theaters. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Disney movies to add to your watchlist.
