It has been nearly 14 full years since Pixar's The Incredibles premiered in theaters, and in that time anticipation for a sequel to one of the studio's best films has continued to build. Now, in advance of that sequel's debut next week, that anticipation is cresting in a major way. Some audiences don't want to wait any longer than necessary to see the Parr family (who are joined by a lot of other new supers), and have begun snatching up advance tickets in record numbers. Incredibly, Incredibles 2 has already sold an incredible number of tickets and is on track to become Fandango's biggest animated pre-seller of all-time. Incredible... ok, now we're done.
Incredibles 2 is currently out-pacing 2016's Finding Dory, another long-in-development sequel that is the current record-holder for Fandango's biggest animated pre-seller, at the same point in its sales cycle. But Incredibles 2 isn't just holding its own in advance ticket sales against its Pixar stablemates. It is also proving every bit as heroic as some of the biggest superheroes out there. As reported by Deadline, the pre-sales for Incredibles 2 are also outpacing DC films Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad, as well as Spider-Man: Homecoming. That is not bad company to be in and certainly bodes well for Incredibles 2's opening weekend, as all of those films debuted to over $100 million domestically.
Current animated pre-sales titleholder Finding Dory debuted in 2016 to $135 million domestic, and ultimate collected over $1 billion worldwide. That $135 million opening bow is the highest domestic debut for an animated film ever, so it is clear that those pre-sales bore out at the box office. These incredible pre-sales for Incredibles 2 seem to support the forecasts that Brad Bird's sequel could surpass Finding Dory with an opening weekend of up to $140 million domestic. Buoying a potentially superheroic performance at the box office are the early reactions to Incredibles 2 that indicate that the sequel is a blast that lives up to the lofty expectations built up over 14 years.
Now, it is important to note that tracking is an inexact science, and pre-sales aren't always indicative of box office success as Solo: A Star Wars Story recently proved. Yet, having strong advance ticket sales certainly doesn't hurt, and it does tell us something about the interest level going in to a release. It's been a while since an all-ages animated family film has been in theaters, and the last Pixar film was Coco in November. Pixar has a proven track record, and Incredibles 2, a sequel to one of the studio's beloved titles, is about as safe a box office bet as you can get these days.
Incredibles 2 will not be invisible when it speeds, stretches and smashes into theaters on June 15. For all of this year's biggest films, check out our release schedule.
