While once seen as a major champion for fresh storytelling, Pixar's run with original movies in the last few years hasn't quite matched its legacy. The animation studio has produced hit sequels, including Pete Docter's Inside Out 2 and Josh Cooley's Toy Story 4, but Dan Scanlon's Onward, Enrico Casarosa's Luca, Domee Shi's Turning Red, and Docter's Soul all saw their releases hamstrung by the COVID-19 pandemic; Peter Sohn's Elemental needed an extended period to grow its box office numbers; and Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina's Elio straight-up underperformed. Because of this recent history, there were a lot of question marks surrounding the release of Daniel Chong's Hoppers – but the audience has responded with exclamation marks.
The new animal-centric animated feature dominated the box office this past weekend with a strong debut – though what's good for Hoppers turned out to be not so great for Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! and Kevin Williamson's Scream 7. You can scope out the full domestic Top 10 for the weekend below, and join me after for analysis.
