This summer is absolutely stacked with movies, and one of the most high-profile is Toy Story 4. It's been nine years since Toy Story 3 and the new film in the series will find Buzz and Woody reuniting with Bo Peep and trying to find their way back to Bonnie. There's a lot of love for the Toy Story franchise and it sounds like the new film is in for a pretty healthy opening weekend, should all go well. Early tracking for Toy Story 4 has the movie opening to as much as $130 million.
Everybody is talking about Avengers: Endgame and how that film is breaking every record under the sun, but this is only the start of the summer season. There are plenty of other movies that are aiming for box office supremacy, and Toy Story 4 has a solid shot at becoming the highest-grossing animated film of the year.
While we are still a good distance away from the film's June release date, early tracking for Toy Story 4 is already in progress. According to Box Office Pro, the film could open within the range of $105 million to $130 million.
There are a number of factors that could swing this projection. The Toy Story franchise has a lot of nostalgia attached to it, and given the nine-year gap between films, older fans may want to bring kids who were born after Toy Story 3 and introduce them to the franchise. Additionally, reactions to trailers and other footage have been positive, as well as reactions to new characters like Forky.
However, Toy Story 3 is seen as the perfect conclusion to the series by some viewers, so they may not feel compelled to check out the latest adventure. This wouldn't really deter younger fans, but interest in the film amongst older generations isn't as high as it was for Finding Dory and Incredibles 2 by this point, according to Box Office Pro.
The film will also open two weeks after The Secret Life of Pets 2, which could cause Toy Story 4 to have a deflated opening if the Illumination sequel is well-received.
Comparatively, this opening projection is fairly in line with Toy Story 3, which grossed $110 million opening weekend. However it falls behind two of Pixar's most successful films box office-wise. Finding Dory opened with $135 million while Incredibles 2 was Pixar's best opening ever with $182.7 million. However, it's still fairly early, and projections tend to change the closer it gets to the release date.
Will Toy Story 4 be able to escape the Oscar-nominated shadow of Toy Story 3? We'll know for sure when the film arrives in theaters on June 21, 2019. For everything else coming to theaters this year, check out our 2019 movie release guide.
