10 films, 10 number one openings, $5.6 billion worldwide dollars. If there was ever a more perfect box-office track record it is certainly hard to find one. In collaboration with Disney marketing and distribution, the Pixar films have collectively changed the face of animation and the numbers do not lie. The perfect melding of technology and pathos, art and science and a company mission statement that makes failure a near impossibility, Pixar has managed to please the critics, the bean counters and most importantly the audience for over 15 years and has done so while making it look easy.
With “Toy Story 3” set for release on June 18, we could be looking at the best all-time opening for a Pixar/Disney film. The current holder of the Pixar opening weekend crown is 2004’s “The Incredibles” with $70.5 million in domestic revenues. With huge buzz (pun-intended) surrounding this latest installment in the beloved “Toy Story” franchise, plus the 3-D component and a suddenly enhanced box-office momentum in the current summer marketplace, TS3 is poised for a tremendous debut.
Fun Pixar fact: The average percentage of total domestic gross represented by the opening weekend of a Pixar film is an incredibly low 23% (the lower the number the better). That means they, on average, impressively make about four times their opening gross in total domestic box-office.
(In 2008 the top 10 grossing films had an average opening weekend percentage of 32%.) The original “Toy Story” had a 15% opening weekend percentage and earned $191.8 million in domestic dollars, against its opening weekend gross of $29.1 million. That’s a total gross roughly 6.6 times the opening; an astonishing multiple!
Special thanks to the folks Walt Disney Pictures for the verified domestic and international grosses for the ten Pixar/Disney films.
