Box office numbers are a game of expectations, so you’re likely to hear some grumbling that Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 4 underperformed this weekend, despite the fact that the film grossed an estimated $118 million, ranking it as the fourth-highest animation opening of all-time.
Some of those lofty expectations stemmed from the opening figures of other recent Pixar-quels, namely Incredibles 2, which launched with $182.6M last year, and Finding Dory, which started with $135M in 2016. Disney execs had reportedly hoped for a $140M stateside opening for the Josh Cooley-directed TS4.
Still, even if Toy Story 4 didn’t land exactly where analysts thought it would, it’s hard to label this film as anything but a box office win. The opening is the highest for the Toy Story franchise (second-highest when adjusted for inflation, after 2010’s Toy Story 3). Add in an additional $120 million from overseas, and the global launch of $238M is the highest-ever for an animated film (beating out Incredible 2′s $235.8M global opening).
