Not only is ‘The Incredibles 2″ going to shatter the opening weekend box office record for animated films, it has a chance to earn one of the top 10 opening weekends for any movie as industry estimates project a jaw-dropping $182 million launch for the Pixar sequel.
Friday numbers for the Brad Bird-directed film show that it’s performing not as a family film, but as a four-quadrant blockbuster that is gaining heavy interest from all ages. Opening day totals clocked in at $71.5 million, including an animation record $18.5 million from Thursday previews. Reception has been stellar with an A+ on CinemaScore and a 94 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
From this Friday result, Disney is keeping their projections slightly lower than industry estimates at $160-170 million. But if “Incredibles 2” holds on to a $180 million-plus start, it will be 35 percent ahead of the previous animation opening record, which was made by “Finding Dory” with $135 million in 2016. “Incredibles 2” has already taken the opening day animation record from “Dory,” which made $54 million on its first Friday.
On top of that, the Pixar superhero family could outperform their Marvel superhero cousins, posting a higher opening weekend than “Iron Man 3” or “Captain America: Civil War.” A $180+ million start would also be higher than the opening weekend for last year’s “Beauty and the Beast” remake, which made $174 million.
Even if Saturday and Sunday numbers cause the film to fall into Disney’s projected range, that would still be the second-highest ever opening for a June release behind only “Jurassic World,” and would beat the openings for Marvel Studios’ 2017 releases, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Thor: Ragnarok.”
In the face of this competition, only “Ocean’s 8” has been able to post relatively high numbers, earning an estimated $20 million this weekend. That’s a strong result for the Village Roadshow-produced “Ocean’s Eleven” spinoff, holding its drop-off to 50 percent from its $41 million start and putting it on its way to the same long-lasting success as its “Ocean’s” predecessors.
Coming in third is another Warner Bros. release, the New Line comedy “Tag.” After making $5.4 million from 3,382 screens on Friday, the film is looking at a decent opening weekend of $15 million. By comparison, New Line’s last comedy, “Game Night,” opened to $17 million and grossed $117 million worldwide against a $37 million budget. “Tag” has earned a B+ on CinemaScore and 57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” and “Deadpool 2” complete the top five, with both films estimated to make around $9 million this weekend. A24’s “Hereditary” falls outside the top five, but has earned a solid 50 percent hold with an estimated $6.6 million second weekend.
In seventh is Columbia’s remake of “Superfly,” which is looking at an estimated weekend total of $5.7 million. Having been released on Wednesday and making $2.1 million in it first two days, the Director X film is looking at a five-day start on the lower end of tracking with approximately $8 million from 2,200 locations.