‘Toy Story 4’ $121 Million Debut Falls Short of Estimates

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co.’s “Toy Story 4” seized the top spot at the box office over the weekend, knocking off “Men in Black: International,” but it took in less money than analysts predicted.

• The film brought in $120.9 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, research firm Comscore Inc. said Monday. That compared with estimates of $140 million to $170 million. The debut was behind the record-setting $182.7 million opening for “Incredibles 2” last year.

Key Insights

• “Toy Story 4” benefited from almost universally positive reviews. “You’ve got to hand it to Pixar,” film critic Rafer Guzman said in AM New York. “The first 10 minutes of this movie are almost as powerful as the last 10 of ‘Casablanca.’”
• The size of the opening shows the draw of the franchise, Cathleen Taff, Disney’s president of global theatrical distribution, said in an interview. “It has a great word of mouth, and we’re expecting a long run through the summer.”

• The previous installment, “Toy Story 3,” grossed more than $1 billion and won two Oscars. Woody (Tom Hanks) and wingman Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) are back in the latest sequel, along with new additions Forky (Tony Hale), Ducky (Keegan-Michael Key), Bunny (Jordan Peele) and Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves).
• Another new movie, “Child’s Play” from United Artists Releasing, opened in second place.

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• Even with the lift from “Toy Story 4,” overall box-office revenue declined almost 27% from the same weekend a year earlier. That’s when “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Incredibles 2” were leading the box office. Boxoffice Pro was expecting sales for the weekend’s top 10 films to decline 13% to 19%.
• See the weekend release schedule here.
• See Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast

To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Kevin Miller

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