The Walt Disney Company has been subjected to a fair amount of adversity throughout the last half month or so, what with the atrocious box office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story and Comcast tabling an all-cash bid for the rights to intellectual properties owned by 21st Century Fox.
Naturally, though, it didn’t take the multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate long to bounce back. According to Deadline, Incredibles 2, the latest critical triumph from Pixar Animation Studios, is headed for a record-breaking opening. Scheduled to hit stateside theaters this Friday, conservative tracking for the Brad Bird-directed superhero sequel has it earning roughly $125 million at the domestic ticket booth this weekend.
However, should “the confidence out there from rivals” hold true, that number could rise to somewhere between $135M-$150M, which would take it into domestic record for an animated opening territory, a title currently owned by another Disney/Pixar joint: Finding Dory ($135M).
That being said, keep in mind that box office tracking can often fluctuate, seeing as the earliest prediction for Incredibles 2 pegged it at a far lower $110 million and then, at the end of last month, that number had risen again to $140 million. In other words, anything can happen. Regardless, for the Pixar fandom, who’ve waited nearly a decade and a half for the sequel to the 2004 Best Animated Feature winner and stood idly by as Bird ventured into Tomorrowland, Friday can’t come soon enough.
Given the lack of competition at the box office this week, we fully expect a substantial opening from Incredibles 2. That said, it’ll be tough sledding for the Parr family next week when Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom stomps into theaters which, despite a divisive reception, should trounce all competition with ease.