‘Hoppers’ Tries to Become What ‘Elio’ Couldn’t: An Original Pixar Hit

With Sony Pictures Animation’s “Goat” giving original animation a much-needed sign of hope at the box office, it’s now over to Disney/Pixar’s “Hoppers” to keep that momentum going as it heads into theaters with strong reviews from critics.

While they have enjoyed wild success with sequels to 2010s films like “Inside Out” and “Zootopia,” Disney and Pixar have been the only two studios that have consistently tried original animated movies in theaters, largely to tepid results. On the Disney side, “Encanto” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” had their theatrical runs stunted by the COVID recovery process in 2021, while “Strange World” and “Wish” were Thanksgiving busts.

Over at Pixar, the pandemic and Disney’s efforts to boost Disney+ sent “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red” straight to home platforms while the 2023 film “Elemental” rebounded from what was at the time the worst opening weekend in studio history into a $494 million global total that stands as the highest grossing original animated film in Hollywood since COVID-19.

And then there was last summer’s “Elio,” a film that got a strong opening weekend response with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 83% critics and 88% audience and an A on CinemaScore. But despite those high marks, the audience at large showed no interest in buying a ticket and the film flopped with just $154 million grossed worldwide.

“Hoppers” marks the latest attempt by Pixar to get back to its blockbuster-making heyday, when its name alone would guarantee box office success no matter the premise. But the film comes out at a time when families, many of whom are cost-conscious, lean more heavily into franchise animation because IP familiarity assures them they are going to get their money’s worth.

Fortunately, fellow original project “Goat” has been able to leg out quite well over the last three weeks, passing the $75 million domestic mark on Tuesday with $131 million grossed worldwide and counting against a reported $80 million budget. While it won’t get close to “Elemental,” “Goat” should be a modest box office success.

But Pixar’s films are made on a far higher budget than Sony’s — or any other non-Disney animation house, for that matter — so it would need to take in far more than “Goat” to be considered a success.

The good news is that Daniel Chong’s madcap comedy about a college freshman who uses advanced technology to inhabit the body of a beaver and rally the animal kingdom to save her favorite glade is getting critical reception as strong if not stronger than any of Pixar’s recent originals. “Hoppers” has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, two points above the 95% scores earned by “Soul” in 2020 and “Turning Red” in 2022.

Box office trackers have detected a pickup in presales and awareness since those reviews dropped on Tuesday, and they are currently projecting a $36-40 million domestic opening weekend for “Hoppers.” That would put the film in the vicinity of the $39.1 million launch for Pixar’s “Onward,” which released in 2020 just a week before the pandemic shut down theaters.

From there, “Hoppers” would have the duration of March to leg out before the arrival of Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which is seen as a lock to hit $1 billion worldwide and contend for top grossing film of the year. That competition may well keep “Hoppers” from having legs as long as “Elemental” did, but it is still possible for a modestly successful box office run that helps Pixar find its footing again on the original front before releasing its own likely billion-dollar sequel with “Toy Story 5” this summer.

Also releasing this weekend is Warner Bros.’ “The Bride!”, which stars Best Actress Oscar frontrunner Jessie Buckley in a wild reimagining of “The Bride of Frankenstein” from director Maggie Gyllenhaal set in Depression-era Chicago. With critics’ screenings timed to the film’s New York premiere this week, there’s no Rotten Tomatoes score yet.

Just like with “Wuthering Heights,” “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” Warner Bros. is making the bold vision from a well-known filmmaker the key selling point of this movie. The trailers and ads for the R-rated film show The Bride and the Frankenstein monster, played by Christian Bale, in a highly stylized, noir-inspired city on the run from a society that shuns them, all accompanied by a tagline that drives home how unapologetically brash and intense the film will be: “Here Comes the Motherf–king Bride.”

Unfortunately, exhibition sources say that audiences haven’t shown a lot of interest in what Warner has been selling with “The Bride!” as presales remain low. Last year, Warner released Bong Joon-ho’s high-budget sci-fi film “Mickey 17” in this early March slot, where it opened to $19 million and went on to gross just $46.1 million domestic and $133.5 million worldwide over its run.

The most optimistic projections for “The Bride!” have it matching the opening of “Mickey 17,” with the consensus estimate being an opening in the mid-teens. That means that Warner Bros.’ streak of nine consecutive No. 1 releases will come to an end this weekend, as “The Bride!” will need spectacular critical and audience reception to break even with a reported production budget of at least $100 million after reshoots.

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