We're well into the Summer Movie Season and so far a big winner has yet to emerge. Which has led to some interesting results in the weekly Box Office figures:
- Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Weekend Gross £2.9 million)
- IF (Weekend Gross £866,000)
- The Garfield Movie (Weekend Gross £729,000)
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Weekend Gross £620,000)
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Weekend Gross £436,839)
The successful opening weekend of the fourth Bad Boys movie (a franchise I've never been particulalry interested but seems to have a commited fanbase) says a lot about the enduring star power of it's leading men. Will Smith has had a quiet career following the whole 'assault' business at the Academy Awards in 2022. However Bad Boys proves he remains a box office draw and one of the few stars who can open a movie on name alone. Any stains on his reputation seemingly mitigated by his still entertaining chemistry with Martin Lawrence.
The fact that a 15-rated action film outpaced the two family-friendly releases says a lot about the vulnerable state of household finances. With families unwilling to part with the cost of multiple cinema tickets for films that will probably be on streaming in a few weeks. Granted IF and The Garfield Movie are somewhat underwhelming prospects. One a high-concept original feature sold on the star power of Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds, the other based on a fairly antiquated property with more appeal to nostalgic older consumers (Garfield started life as a newspaper comic after all). Aside from Kung Fu Panda 4 no family release has come out yet with the potential to dominate the box office, until now that is.
Inside and Out of Pixar Studios
Like many studios Pixar has not had a great time of it post-pandemic. The COVID-19 lockdowns led to Disney releasing many of it's Pixar films (Soul, Turning Red and Luca) directly onto streaming severely limiting the studio's potential profitability. In June 2022 Pixar returned to cinemas with Lightyear, a spin-off of the enduring Toy Story series. Despite being the fifth highest-grossing film of 2022 worldwide, with $226 million, the film was considered a box office bomb when factoring in its budget and marketing costs.
Many analysts, as well as Pixar employees blamed Lightyear's failure on Disney actions during the pandemic. By denying Pixar's films a theatrical release they had trained their audience to expect Disney films to be available on streaming. Meaning that all they had to do was wait a few months and they could save themselves the expense and trouble of dragging the family out to the cinema and paying upwards of $60 plus concessions. Pixar's subsequent release, Elemental, fared slightly better, making a minimal splash on release but over the course of its theatrical run it earned over $400 million worldwide.
By this point though the damage had been done both to Pixar's reputation and financial stability. Over the course of 2024 the studio has laid off approximately 14% of its workforce, as it attempts to veer away from streaming content and focus on theatrical releases. The fact that these layoffs included Gayln Susman, the producer who famously saved Toy Story 2 from deletion, only compounded the reputational damage. Ever since the first Toy Story debuted in 1995 Pixar established itself as a positive, altruistic workplace driven by enthusiastic story tellers. Backed by a string of critically acclaimed films it was a reputation that held firm until 2017 when John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer and one of the resident 'big kids' stepped down following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Altogether layoffs and harbouring potential sex pests doesn't really gel with the idea of a company that values both the product and the people making it. What's more their uninterrupted string of successes was well and truly over; Brave, The Good Dinosaur and Onward were widely considered creative misfires. Pixar continued to release hits; Coco and Soul repesenting Pixar quality at its highest, but these were exceptions among a slew of lesser works in Turning Red, Luca and Elemental (granted a 'lesser' Pixar is still better than most films).
In 2024 Pixar is in desperate need of a hit that recalls their past glories, which is how we have Inside Out 2. A sequel to 2015's Pixar hit directed by studio veteren Pete Docter, made at a time when Pixar still beloved as a reliable source of heartfelt entertainment. The film itself handily demonstrates why this was the case. Inside Out is a maserpiece of animation and storytelling; leaning on Pixar's trend of imagining the hidden lives of mundane aspects of life; in this case our emotions.
Centered on two polar opposites Joy (Amy Pohler) and Sadness (Phylis Smith), Inside Out beautifully depicts the internal conflict of these two emotions. What happens when previously happy eleven-year-old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias)is confronted with unavoidable sadness? How do they react when emotions like fear and anger take control for the first time? One standout element is just how Inside Out despicts the cartonnish antics of Riley's inner emotions manifesting in outburts that will feel all too real to your average parent.
Inside Out now resides in popular estimation as one of Pixar's best so a sequel has a lot to live up to, even if the studio's future wasn't resting on it's success. Inside Out 2 promises to bring more of its predecessors inherent charm, with the addition of more emotions to party. As this time around Joy and Sadness will be joined by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adele Exarchopolis).Which will certainly add a new energy to the film (and incidentally more models for merchandising) but risks diluting the simple, accessible emotionality of the first film.
Making sequels is always a double-edged sword but currently Pixar is in a position where they need to turn out a guaranteed hit with audiences. With Toy Story 5 still in development, Inside Out happened to be their best candidate for the sequel treatment. All indications then are that it may not match the quality of the original but it might keep Pixar afloat long enough to reach those heights once more.
