Summary
While there are many memorable and well-craftedPixarmovies, 2015’sInside Outwas unique. Now thatInside Out 2will be released on June 14th, 2024, fans of the beloved first film are anticipating another compelling, beautifully animated, and moving movie.Inside Out 2tells the smart storyof Riley’s (Kaitlyn Diaz) teenage emotions, and considering the box office success ofInside Out, there is reason to believe that the sequel will perform just as well.
While fans rewatch Pixar’s animated classics all the time, the last few films by the animated studio didn’t do very well at the box office. WhenInside Out 2is released in the summer of 2024, will it make a lot of money in its opening weekend and beyond, proving that Pixar movies can still be hugely successful?
Pixar Has Struggled To Release A Hit Movie
It has been a little while since Pixar released a movie that had a successful run at the box office. According toVariety, when Elemental was released in 2023, it had themost lackluster opening weekend for any Pixar movie. It grossed only$44.5 million worldwideand$29.5 million domestically. In 2022,Lightyearperformed poorly at the box office. AsVarietyreported, it had a$51 million opening North America weekend, which was much less than people expected.Jurassic World Dominionperformed betterthanLightyeardid.
What Pixar Movies Were Released In The 2020s?
No Pixar movie released in the 2020s has featurediconic Pixar charactersor done very well at the box office. This is partly becauseLuca,Turning Red, andSoulwere released on Disney+ before they were released in theaters for a limited run, according toEntertainment Weekly. For example,Luca, which was released in 2021, onlygrossed $49,750,471 worldwide, according toBox Office Mojo. It would have been interesting to see how these three films would have fared if they had been given a full theatrical run.
Inside Out Was A Major Success For Pixar When It Came Out
Inside Outnot only has hilarious quotesbut was a huge box office success for Pixar and the numbers are impressive. According toBox Office Mojo, the filmgrossed $356,461,711 domesticallyand$857,611,174 worldwide. AsDeadlinereported, it had anopening weekend of $90.4 million. No other animated movie made as much money in its opening weekend. WhileJurassic Worldgrossed $106.6 million in opening weekend number two, according toForbes, a lot of people sawInside Outin the theater.
Inside Outproved that Pixar could release a moving story about emotions and see huge numbers at the box office. It’s a great example of a well-crafted movie that was also a huge moneymaker. Inside Out has a lot in common with the instantlyloveable 2022 Pixar movieTurning Redwhich also tells the story of a young girl dealing with intense emotions. It’s fair to say thatInside Outinformed a lot of Pixar’s storytelling moving forward, and it’s exciting to imagine what could come next.
In 2016, director Pete Docter was interviewed byNPRand shared the inspiration behindInside Out. He said:
“The idea kind of started with me just thinking about what would be fun to see in animation, you know - what have I not seen? For some reason, I got thinking about the human body and realizing, well, I’ve seen, like, traveling through the bloodstream and into the, you know, stomach and things. Well, what if we did this in the mind as opposed to the brain?”
He continued that he wanted to focus on “consciousness and dream production” and havecharacters who are emotions like Disgust, Fear, Joy, Anxiety, Anger, and Sadness. Docter continued:
“That’s exactly what animation does best - strong, opinionated, caricatured personalities. And that just got me excited.”
Can Inside Out 2 Break Pixar’s Losing Streak?
SinceInside Outwas such a box office success when it was released in 2015, it’s fair to imagine that the same thing will happen whenInside Out 2comes out. It seems likely thatInside Out 2will stop Pixar’s losing streak and prove that the animated studio still makes popular and meaningful animated movies about important and relatable subjects. Theremany confusing parts ofLightyear, which proves that some of Pixar’s recent releases fall flat when it comes to plotlines. However, there’s no reason not to think thatInside Out 2will please audiences while also making money.
From theInside Out 2trailer, it’s clear that the sequel will delve even deeper into Riley’s emotional experiences, especially since there is anew emotion, Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke. In one hilarious scene, Anxiety says:
“I’m sorry, we wanted to make such a good first impression!”
Pixar fans have been anticipatingInside Out 2ever since it was first announced because it sounds like the sequel will deliver on the strong storytelling of the first movie. Amy Poehler shared a little bit about the movie at the D23 Expo in 2022. According toPeople, she said:
“At the very end if the original, Joy has that great moment where she’s like, ‘Finally, everything the way it’s supposed to be.’ Then we see that big puberty button, ‘Should we press this?’ We do press it in the second movie.”
