Box office: Inside Out 2 makes shining debut, heads for record $140mn opening weekend

Inside Out 2 has received the biggest cheer at the box office. Disney and Pixar's new outing opened with outstanding numbers. The movie, a sequel to the highly successful 2015 film, earned $62 million across Friday and preview screenings, marking a staggering opening at the North American box office.

Exceeding expectations, the movie is projected to earn between $140 million and $150 million domestically over the weekend, coinciding with Father’s Day. If it achieves these numbers, the movie willbecome the second-highest opening for an animated movie, following Pixar's Incredibles 2 ($182.6M), the highest-grossing animated domestic opening.

The movie is likely to surpass the opening weekend numbers of Super Mario Bros Movie ($146.3mn).

It is projected that Pixar's new entry willalsoovertake Timothée Chalamet's Dune: Part Two, which debuted with $82.5 million, making it the biggest domestic opening of 2024.

The strong opening of Inside Out 2 comes at a time when Pixar, one of the most popular and successful movie studios, has struggled with box office numbers.

Despite critical praise, the studio's recent films like Elemental, Turning Red, Soul, and Luca,among others had extremely disappointing theatrical runs.

More about Inside Out 2:

Directed by Kelsey Mann, the sequel delves deeper into the human emotions and intricacies of 11-year-old Riley, who is now a teenager. Exploring this new phase of life, a new emotion has entered Riley's mind: Anxiety.

"Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who've long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren't sure how to feel when Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment show up," read the film's synopsis.

The voice cast includes Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Paul Walter Hauser, and Yvette Nicole Brown.