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Joy & hope kicked despair to the curb this weekend as INSIDE OUT 2 opened to $155M.

Hollywood handicappers were bullish on the Disney/Pixar PG animated adventure comedy, but “only” expected $85-95M. That number started mushrooming as the weekend began and the guestimate needle quickly soared past $120M on its way to $140M — and then to an amazing $145M.

It’s an opening that, hopefully, silences the doomsayers — like a certain L.A. newspaper — who always have it on good authority from anonymous or little known industry sources that the movie business is dead, dying or damaged beyond repair.

Clearly, the studios made a huge error last year by prolonging strikes that shut down the flow of big movies for most of the first half of 2024. We’re finally seeing films hit theatres that people will pay to see. The momentum began 5/10 with KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES’ $58.4M opening. Then BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE arrived 6/7 to $56.5M.

IO2, which reportedly cost $200M to produce, starts a steady stream of big brand movies, including:  DESPICABLE ME 4 (7/3), DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE (7/26), BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (9/6), JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX (10/4), WICKED: PART I (11/27), MOANA 2 (11/27), LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM (12/13) & MUFASA: THE LION KING (12/20).

Despite a recent newspaper article claiming people would now rather play games on their phones than go see movies, these upcoming A-List titles point to a robust boxoffice for Q3 & Q4 of ’24. Of course, new strikes this summer would likely pull the flying carpet out from under exhibitors.

Driven by IO2, the Father’s Day Weekend marketplace soared to $213.3M, per Comscore, up 103.3% from the prior weekend and up 28% vs. this time last year. Comscore’s year to date tally has 2024 at $3.09B, down 24% from $4.05B in 2023. The previous weekend, 2024 was down 26% vs. 2023.

IO2’s $155M opening, per Comscore, was at 4,440 theatres ($34,910). It’s tracking best for first choice with women under 25 (27 points above norm) and next best with over-25 women (17 points over norm). Critics on Rotten Tomatoes are a sizzling 92% while audiences are applauding at 96%. Internationally it debuted to $140M for a global total of $295M.

IO2 is “the first $100M plus domestic opening weekend of the year thus far,” per Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian, “and the second biggest Pixar (and animation genre) domestic debut of all time!”

Sony/Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE was #2 in weekend two with $33M (-42%). It’s done $112.2M domestic & $214.6M worldwide.

As for next weekend: Universal’s Focus Features label’s “THE BIKERIDERS” is opening at about 2,500 theatres. It’s tracking below norm for all demos. RT critics are an okay 85%.