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Exhibitors were in Holdover Heaven this weekend as INSIDE OUT 2 delivered an animated $100M in ticket sales.

At first, Hollywood handicappers thought the Disney/Pixar blockbuster toon would to do $75M, but once the weekend began the buzz-ards were up to  $95M — and then $98M!

IO2 is proof that Wall Street guessed wrong about moviegoing being dead. Hollywood’s mad rush into streaming technology to replace theatrical exhibition — new technology that the Street greedily promoted during the pandemic — has cost the studios billions of dollars that will likely never be recouped. There also are billions of lost dollars thanks to Hollywood’s  heavy handed approach to 2023’s labor negotiations. Nonetheless, moviegoing is still alive and well — when people believe films are worth their time & money.

IO2 just brought moviegoing back to life as TOP GUN: MAVERICK did in 2022 and BARBIE & OPPENHEIMER did in ’23. But this time there’s a stream of A List content hitting theatres from mid-summer through year end — like 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).

The weekend marketplace soared to $150.95M, per Comscore, down 29.7% from the prior weekend, but up 37% vs. this time last year. Comscore’s year to date tally has 2024 at $3.37B, down 21% from $4.28B in 2023. The previous weekend, 2024 was down 24% vs. 2023.

Meanwhile, back at the multiplexes: IO2, which reportedly cost $200M to produce, stayed #1 with $100M, down just 35% in weekend two at 4,440 theatres ($22,523). It’s done $355.2M domestic and $724.4M worldwide, per Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

The weekend’s only studio wide opening was Focus Features’ THE BIKERIDERS, which opened #3, per Comcore, to $10M at 2,642 theatres ($3,785). It’s tracking below norm for all demos. Rotten Tomatoes critics are an okay 81%, but audiences are a blah 74%. TB reportedly cost $40M to produce.

As for next weekend: Paramount/Platinum Dunes’ PG-13 horror prequel A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE is opening at about 3,600 theatres. The hit franchise’s prequel stars  Lupita Nyong’o, a Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner in 2014 for 12 YEARS A SLAVE. It’s tracking best with women over 25 (seven points over norm).

WB/New Line Cinema’s R rated HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 1 begins director, co-writer & star Kevin Costner’s two part epic look at the Old West during and after the American Civil War. Costner’s emotional journey explores how the West was both won and lost. It’s tracking below norm for all demos. RT critics hate it at 47%. HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 2 hits theatres 8/16 via WB.