Pixar’s return to the big screen, Lightyear, did $5.2M between fan Wednesday previews and Thursday night shows, which is just under the $6.3M that Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did back in April over its first two days of previews.
Lightyear‘s Wednesday fan screenings started at 6PM, while Thursday showtimes began at 3PM. The sci-fi origin story of space ranger Buzz Lightyear is booked at 4,255 theaters and is expected to do between $70M-$85M. Global start is being eyed at $135M, with the overseas footprint being 43 material markets, representing 79% of international. Rotten Tomatoes reviews are at 80% certified fresh which is below the high 90%-100% range of the Toy Story movies. If the family film is going to overindex, it boil down to Father’s Day traffic, not to mention, the Juneteenth holiday being celebrated on Monday. To date during the pandemic, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 owns the best opening for a family movie at $72.1M.
Lightyear is well ahead of the Tuesday pre-holiday previews of Universal/Illumination’s Sing 2 ($1.6M) and Disney’s Encanto ($1.5M). Presales for Lightyear were estimated to be around $10M as of yesterday, just under Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s $12M-$14M.
Universal/Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion led all movies in regular release yesterday with $8.66M, -13% from Wednesday at 4,676. The movie will share Imax screens with Lightyear this weekend, but cede them in its third weekend fully to the Disney/Pixar film. First week’s take for Dominion is $191.1M, 7% behind the first week of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick saw $6.2M yesterday, -6% from Wednesday for a third week of $78.7M and running total of $422.1M.
Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did an estimated $614K, for a $7.9M sixth week and $400.8M running total.
Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys grossed $282K, -24%, for a $4M eighth week, and $93.2M running total.
Disney’s The Bob’s Burgers Movies made an estimated $280K, for a $3.9M third week and running total of $28.7M.