Inside Out 2has enjoyed a record-shattering $295 million opening weekend at the box office– but exactly how did the Pixar sequel become so ludicrously successful? With the disappointing commercial performance ofLightyearandElemental, Pixar has stumbled in the past couple of years. The studio used to be known as a hit factory, delivering one of the greatest animated movies ever made every single year. But in recent years, the studio’s reputation has faltered as its output has become more hit-and-miss. Pixar desperately needed a win, andInside Out 2has provided that win and then some.
In its first weekend in theaters,Inside Out 2broke plenty of box office records.It’s the best opening of 2024 so far, the second-highest opening for a Pixar movie, the second-highest opening for an animated movie, the highest animated movie opening in the international market – the list goes on. It was unlikely that the sequel toInside Outwould bomb at the box office, but it also seemed like a long shot that it would perform so overwhelmingly well. So, here’s a breakdown of howInside Out 2became so successful at such a tough time for movie theaters.
Why Inside Out 2’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is So High
A sequel to 2015’s Oscar-winning Inside Out, Pixar’s sequel, Inside Out 2, has rave reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes for several key reasons.
10Inside Out 2 Has Mass Audience Appeal
A Hit With Families And Beyond
A lot of recent tentpoles have struggled at the box office because they’ve had limited audience appeal.The Fall Guyonly appealed to devotees of the action genre. Despite its female hero,Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagasimilarly skewed a male action movie audience (and the even more niche demographic of nostalgicMad Maxfans). Even a successful movie likeDune: Part Twohas targeted an older audience and alienated younger viewers.Inside Out 2is one of the only genuine four-quadrant movies of the year.
As a colorful animated adventure,Inside Out 2has very strong family appeal. But it’s also a rare movie that goes beyond that, because of when the first one released. In the near-decade since the original movie, some fans of the original will have started their own families. Others will be older and go to the theater independently.
9Inside Out 2 Is A Sequel To One Of Pixar’s Best Movies
Continues the Legacy of a Beloved Pixar Classic
Given the current price of cinema tickets, going out to see any movie is a gamble. Whereas an original movie likeTurning RedorElementalis a risk for audiences, sequels have the safety of familiar worlds and beloved characters. Since audiences already know they love characters like Joy, Sadness, and Anger, and they already know they love the creative psychological worldbuilding ofInside Out,Inside Out 2is a safer bet than most.
Pixar has had its fair share of struggles in the past few years, butInside Outis the kind of movie that people associate with great Pixar. So, there was a lot of hype and anticipation for the follow-up. Just likeFinding DoryandMonsters Universitybefore it,Inside Out 2was guaranteed some level of success, because it comes with a built-in fan base.
Buoyed by High Praise and Strong ratings
While the built-in fan base and audience familiarity certainly helpedInside Out 2’s box office performance, it also didn’t hurt that the movie has received universal praise from fans and critics alike. It has a91% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, from over 200 reviews, and a 96% audience score, with over 1,000 verified ratings.It also earned an A grade from CinemaScore. Suffice to say, the response has been mostly positive.
It’s not unheard of for a poorly received movie to do well at the box office, fromSuicide Squadto a handful ofTransformerssequels, but positive reviews certainly come in handy. Anyone who’s on the fence about watchingInside Out 2will probably be convinced to check it out when they see the widespread acclaim.And anyone who has seen it will likely recommend it to their friends, because it’s a fantastic movie.
7The Inside Out Franchise Has Matured With Its Fans
Evolving With Fans, Addressing Teen Anxiety With Insight
TheInside Outfranchise has matured with its fan base. The originalInside Outdealt with the biggest developments in early childhood, while the sequel deals with the complications of adolescence. That exploration of adolescence has arrived at the perfect time.The firstInside Outmovie came out nine years ago,which is long enough for kids who watched it in theaters to grow into their teenage years.
Young kids were blown away by the originalInside Out’s message about the positive role of sadness.Now that they’re teenagers, they can be blown away by the sequel’s message about learning to control anxiety. Teenagers are a great demographic for movies, because they have more independence than younger kids and they have more free time than adults. A big chunk ofInside Out 2’s business will be thanks to this demographic.
6Struggling With Anxiety Is Universally Relatable
The Anxiety Theme Resonates Well With Many Teenagers' Experiences
The central premise ofInside Out 2sees Anxiety popping up in a teenage Riley’s mind and seizing control from Joy.Throughout the film, Anxiety comes up with countless what-if scenarios to keep Riley in a state of worry.Anxiety thinks she’s doing the right thing and helping Riley, but doesn’t realize how destructive her influence is. In the film’s climactic sequence, Riley suffers from a panic attack and the other emotions have to figure out how to control Anxiety.
Each emotion in the game has unique abilities that can help gamers navigate Riley’s mind. Switching between different emotions like sadness, joy and anxiety can help overcome obstacles and solve puzzles.
In a world rocked by a pandemic and defined by social media doomscrolling,anxiety has become a major struggle for a lot of people around the globe.Inside Out 2completely understands that struggle and visualizes it in a profoundly relatable way. Part of the sequel’s success can be attributed to this poignant commentary on a universal struggle.
Disney’s Revitalized, Vibrant Marketing
The reason for a lot of Disney’s box office bombs in the past couple of years, fromStrange WorldtoWish, has been that the studio’s marketing team expected the Disney brand alone to do all the heavy lifting for them.This year, they’ve stepped up their game, with eye-catching marketing campaigns forMoana 2,Deadpool & Wolverine, andMufasa: The Lion King.Inside Out 2got a big boost from an impressive marketing campaign.
This year, they’ve stepped up their game, with eye-catching marketing campaigns forMoana 2,Deadpool & Wolverine, andMufasa: The Lion King.Inside Out 2got a big boost from an impressive marketing campaign.
The trailers forInside Out 2promised some major plot developments, like the introduction of Anxiety and the literal bottling-up of the original emotions, without spoiling the whole movie. These trailers gave a clear idea of the movie that audiences were in for, but left out enough to intrigue potential viewers. A strong marketing campaign can go a long way.
4Animated Movies Have Long Been Successful Despite Other Box Office Struggles
Animated Hits Have Always Outshined Superheroes
While superhero movies have begun to falter at the box office, animation still reigns supreme.The fact that animated movies are ideal for family viewing means that the potential ticket sales get multiplied by parents bringing their kids. Three of the biggest movies of 2023 were animated:The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which gaveBarbiea run for its money (literally);Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which flew in the face of so-called superhero fatigue; andPixar’s ownElemental, which initially struggled, but later legged it out to a respectable box office gross.
The same goes for this year.Kung Fu Panda 4was a hit,The Garfield Moviehad a respectable gross (relative to its slim budget), and evenIF, which is a hybrid of live-action and animation, has done better than most.Inside Out 2has capitalized on the animation market.
3Inside Out 2 Promised More Than Just A Repeat Of The Original
Shining with Originality and Emotional Depth
The problem with a lot of sequels is that there’s no artistic reason for them to exist. Most sequels get made simply because the first movie made money. The studio doesn’t want to jeopardize the sequel’s profitability, so they avoid taking creative risks and veer closely to the original. But that’s never been Pixar’s approach. Even when Pixar makes a sequel purely because Disney wants to make more money out of an I.P.,likeToy Story 4, the studio comes up with a solid reason for that movie to exist.
The trailers forInside Out 2made it clear that this wouldn’t just be a rehash of the original.They introduced four new emotions – Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment – that came along with Riley’s progression into adolescence.Inside Out 2made a convincing case for its own existence.
2Inside Out 2 Didn’t Have Much Box Office Competition
No Formidable Challenger, at Box Office
Stiff competition can bury any movie at the box office. Last year, theHaunted Mansionreboot was destroyed at the box office because Disney decided to release it a week after Barbenheimer. Luckily forInside Out 2, it didn’t face a lot of competition at the box office in this past weekend.IFandThe Garfield Movieare both still ticking over, but the latter was released three weeks ago, so most of the people planning to watch it have seen it already. This is the first big family movie since then (and it’s a bigger and better-received one at that).
Inside Out 2’s release date wasn’t chosen for its lack of competition; June just happens to be Pixar’s traditional release window. The studio has released its movies as close to June as possible for almost two decades.But the lack of competition certainly helped it get to $295 million.
1Inside Out 2 Is A Much-Needed Feel-Good Movie
A Timely Tale of Comfort and Joy
With the economy getting tighter, the planet getting warmer, and a couple of divisive elections coming up, the world needs a feel-good movie likeInside Out 2right now. From the politically fraught thrills ofCivil Warto the ominous cautionary tale ofDune: Part Two, there haven’t been a ton of movies this year that gave audiences the warm and fuzzy feeling thatInside Out 2provides.Inside Out 2is exactly the kind of heartwarming movie that Pixar specializes in.
Throughout its runtime,Inside Out 2deals with less-than-feel-good subjects like struggling with self-worth and suffering from panic attacks. But, as is customary for Pixar,Inside Out 2’s story builds to a feel-good ending. The reason forInside Out 2’s massive success might be as simple as it being the movie people need to see right now.
Inside Out 2
Cast
Inside Out 2 is the sequel to the 2015 original film, which starred a young girl named Riley with a head full of emotions. - literally. With Amy Pohler as Joy, Bill Hader as fear, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, and Lewis Black as Anger, the all-star cast brought to life the emotions that adolescents face as they grow, change, and adapt to new situations. This sequel, currently in development, will bring Amy Pohler back as Joy, with Riley, now a teenager.
