New Pixar Movie Beats Christian Bale’s Likely Box Office Bomb

A new Pixar original and a horror film featuring Christian Bale arrived in theaters during the same weekend, but early box office figures show sharply different starts for the two releases. Initial reports indicate Pixar’s latest animated feature opened strongly, while Bale’s The Bride! debuted with significantly smaller numbers in North America and worldwide.

Hoppers opens with $45 million+ at domestic box office

Pixar’s Hoppers debuted at No. 1 at the domestic box office with a $46 million opening weekend from 4,000 theaters in North America (via Variety). The film also earned $42 million internationally, bringing its worldwide opening total to $88 million. The launch represents the strongest opening for a Pixar original animated film since Coco in 2017 (via Deadline).

Box Office Mojo reports that the domestic debut included $13.2 million on Friday, $19.1 million on Saturday, and $13.7 million on Sunday. Deadline also reported that audience turnout was broadly split, with the film drawing 52% general audiences and 48% families during its opening weekend.

The Bride! opens even less than $10 million

Warner Bros.’ The Bride! opened with $7.3 million domestically from 3,304 theaters in North America. The film also generated $6.3 million from 70 international markets, bringing its worldwide opening total to about $13.6 million. Box Office Mojo lists the domestic figure at $7.26 million with a global total of approximately $13.56 million.

Variety reported that the film’s opening weekend fell short of studio projections, which had estimated between $16 million and $18 million domestically.

The production budget is reported at about $90 million, and Deadline noted that Warner Bros. had forecast a global debut in the $38 million to $40 million range. Industry analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations said elevated horror films often struggle to reach broader audiences and indicated the production cost was higher than typical for the genre.