Disney Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” is reaching for the skies this weekend with a solid $47 million in Friday ticket sales, though weekend estimates are below Disney’s earlier projections.
Although initial estimates had placed the film north of $140 million for its domestic opening weekend, the strong premiere still looks promising for the family flick, which is now set to take home upwards of $120 million for the weekend. That would make it the third-best domestic launch of all time for an animated film behind previous Pixar titles “Incredibles 2,” which raked in $183 million in 2018 and “Finding Dory,” which nabbed $135 million in 2016.
The entry comes nearly 10 years after “Toy Story 3,” which bowed to $110 million in 2010. This year’s iteration sees many of the franchise’s central characters reunite alongside newcomer Forky, an anxiety-ridden spork on the verge of an existential crisis, played by Tony Hale.
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Earlier in the week, “Toy Story 4” debuted to the second best preview number for an animated movie following an $18.5 million Thursday opening from Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” a year ago. Previously, 2016’s “Finding Dory” had been second with a $9.2 million Thursday night opening.
“Toy Story 4” has also reversed the recent franchise fatigue, which saw “Men in Black: International,” “Dark Phoenix,” and “Shaft” all turn in disappointing returns. “Men in Black: International” is set to finish the weekend with around $10.5 million – 65% lower than the original film during its second weekend of release – while “Shaft” and “Dark Phoenix” are estimated to see a little more than $3 million.
Coming in second is United Artist’s new Chucky film “Child’s Play,” which opened Friday to $6 million on 3,007 screens and is estimated to take home around $15.6 million this weekend. Mark Hamill and Aubrey Plaza star in the horror pic, which currently has a 60 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ticket sales are looking less promising for “Anna,” which also debuted this weekend. The Luc Besson and Lionsgate/Summit crime thriller took home a bleak $1.4 million on Friday from 2,114 cinemas. A number of sexual assault allegations have also overshadowed the film’s release with several women accusing Besson of rape, harassment and workplace abuse.
Rounding out the weekend is Disney’s “Aladdin,” which continues to hold in third place despite being in its fifth weekend as well as Sony’s “Men in Black: International,” which is set to come in at No. 4 and Illumination and Universal’s “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” now in its third weekend, at No. 5.