Pixar’s ‘Hoppers’ Jumps To No. 1 With $46M Domestic, $88M Global Debut

Original animation had a big weekend at the North American box office, led by Pixar’s Hoppers, which opened at No. 1 with an estimated $46 million domestically. The debut marks one of the strongest launches for an original animated feature in recent years and Pixar’s best since Coco in 2017.

The studio’s latest, the debut feature from We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong, also delivered solid numbers overseas. Hoppers launched with an estimated $42 million from international markets, bringing its global opening weekend to $88 million.

Hoppers’ performance is exciting for a marketplace that has increasingly leaned on sequels and established IP to get butts in seats in recent years. Pixar has had a particularly rough go of it recently, making Hoppers’ start an important reminder that audiences will still turn out for original animated storytelling when the concept connects and the film is entertaining.

Pixar isn’t the only studio celebrating an original win this week, though. Sony Pictures Animation’s GOAT was fourth at the domestic box office with another $6.6 million raked in, continuing its impressive theatrical run. The Tyree Dillihay-helmed sports-comedy opened earlier this year to $35 million and has since grossed $84 million in North America and $146 million worldwide, solid results for a mid-budget original animated production that should stick around for a few more weeks.

Elsewhere, a Crunchyroll rerelease of the anime feature Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle pulled in $1.3 million domestically, pushing its North American total to $135.8 million after a lengthy run in theaters last fall.

Disney’s Zootopia 2 fell just outside the domestic top 10 over the weekend, adding another $800,000 for an NA total of more than $427 million since its Thanksgiving holiday release. The sequel has been a massive global success, now sitting at $1.86 billion worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing animated film ever.

With four animated films in the top 11, the weekend’s box office offered a snapshot of the breadth of the medium’s current theatrical ecosystem: a major original debut leading the charts, a mid-budget original continuing a respectable run, a Japanese anime phenomenon still drawing audiences with a limited rerelease, and a blockbuster Disney sequel that remains a long-legged performer.