Box Office: ‘Hoppers’ Redeems Pixar in Bounding to Seminal $46M U.S. Win, ‘The Bride!’ Bombs With $7.3M
Pixar has good reason to be jumping for joy over the opening of Hoppers, which easily topped the weekend with a domestic haul of $46 million and $88 million globally, the biggest launch for an original animated film since the studio’s Coco was released in 2017. The international portion of Hoppers’ total worldwide gross was $42 million from 88 markets.
Pixar, whose core mission is to tell original stories, used to be able to do no wrong. But in recent years, Pixar has taken a drubbing for films that stalled out theatrically, excluding franchise installments such as 2024 blockbuster Inside Out 2 — not to mention the impact of the pandemic on the entire animation market.
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Warner Bros., however, found itself in the opposite position of having to go on the defensive over the weekend as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! bombed with a third-place domestic debut of $7.3 million. Overseas was just as weak; It limped to $6.3 million from 78 markets for a worldwide launch of $13 million against a net budget of $80 million before marketing. Heading into the weekend, the studio stuck with its forecast of $16 million-plus even after the film received lukewarm reviews.
From Spyglass and Paramount, Scream 7 surprised in beating despite falling a steep 72 percent or more to $17.1 million in its second outing. Internationally, the slasher installment took in another $15.6 million for a global cume of nearly $150 million through Sunday.
Hoppers is the only title among the three to boast both strong critical and audience scores. Another ace up its sleeve: access to Imax screens during the day (The Bride! had nights). Further, half the audience were teenagers, younger adults and older adults going to see it solo. Its score on Rotten Tomatoes is 94 percent, the same as the audience score. It also received an A CinemaScore and a perfect five-out-of-five stars on PostTrak exits.
“This is a fantastic original film from the incredible team at Pixar, and it’s wonderful to see audiences coming out with their friends and families to enjoy it together,” Disney Entertainment chair Alan Bergman said in a statement. “Congratulations to our director Daniel Chong, our producer Nicole Paradis Grindle and our talented cast, along with Pete Docter, Jim Morris and everyone at Pixar, on a tremendous launch.”
In the comedy-adventure, animal lover Mabel (Piper Curda) seizes an opportunity to use a new technology to “hop” her consciousness into a life-like robotic beaver and communicate directly with animals. As she uncovers mysteries beyond anything she could have imagined, Mabel befriends a charismatic beaver named King George (Bobby Moynihan) and must rally the entire animal kingdom to face a major, imminent human threat: smooth-talking local mayor Jerry Generazzo (Hamm). The ensemble voice cast also features Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Meryl Streep, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Steve Purcell, Ego Nwodim, Nichole Sakura, Karen Huie and Vanessa Bayer.
Hoppers earned $13.4 million on Friday, including $3 million in Thursday previews. The Bride! did only $1 million in previews.
Jessie Buckley in The Bride!
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Gyllenhaal’s film ends a yearlong winning streak for studio heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who are committed to taking bold, original swings. At the upcoming March 16 Oscar ceremony, they have two films in the best-picture race, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. And lost in the coverage of The Bride! was the fact that Emerald Fennell’s edgy Wuthering Heights adaptation has crossed the $200 million mark globally after three weekends.
The Bride’s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a fresh 73 percent, while the critics’ score has fluctuated throughout the weekend. On Sunday, it rested at a rotten 59 percent, down from 62 percent on Saturday. Also, the $80 million film was slapped with a C+ CinemaScore. The R-rated, gothic romance made headlines last week for comments Gyllenhaal made on a podcast, saying she was asked by Abdy and De Luca to remove some of the film’s more violent scenes (she also gave a shout-out to Abdy for “understanding me”).
Starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, The Bride! draws inspiration from the 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein and is Gyllenhaal’s second directorial outing after the award-winning indie drama The Lost Daughter, starring Olivia Colman and Buckley. All three women were nominated for a slew of awards by various orgs, including Oscar noms for best adapted screenplay (Gyllenhaal), best actress (Colman) and best supporting actress (Buckley). This year, Buckley is nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her performance in Hamnet.
In North America, Sony Pictures Animation’s family pic GOAT finished in fourth place with $6.6 million for a domestic total of $83.8 million and $141.3 million globally.
Wuthering Heights rounded out the top five domestically with $3.8 million, while earning another $8.7 million internationally from 79 markets for a global total of $213.8 7 million.
Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights.
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
