‘Hoppers’ Tests Box Office Legs as Colleen Hoover’s ‘Reminders of Him’ Hits Theaters

After an encouraging $45.3 million domestic opening weekend, Disney/Pixar’s “Hoppers” will try to use its strong word-of-mouth to win over families whose kids are on spring break over the next few weekends. Meanwhile, Universal will try to persuade general female audiences with the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation, “Reminders of Him.”

With “Reminders of Him” projected for an opening weekend in the low-to-mid teens, “Hoppers” will very likely hold on to the No. 1 spot this weekend as it is expected to keep its second weekend drop below 50% after a $2.7 million Monday. In addition, with “The Bride!” fizzling out quickly this past weekend, the Pixar film will have more Imax screentimes in its second weekend, increasing its premium format grosses.

As the first original animated film with a $40 million-plus opening since the pandemic, “Hoppers” will set a new bar for the medium as Hollywood tries to find different ways to sell fresh IP in a radically changed market. With a strong second weekend, it should be able to pass the $154 million domestic run of Pixar’s “Elemental” in 2023, even with immense competition from “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” in April.

Meanwhile, “Reminders of Him” will look to continue Hollywood’s recent trend of consistent offerings specifically for female audiences that began with “The Housemaid” and “Wuthering Heights” and will continue into the summer with “You, Me & Tuscany” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”

With its current tracking, “Reminders of Him” is expected to open in the same vicinity as the last Colleen Hoover film, Paramount’s “Regretting You,” which opened to $13.6 million last October and legged out to a respectable $48.8 million domestic run. With a reported $25 million budget, that will be enough to make “Reminders of Him” theatrically profitable with overseas grosses thrown in.

“Reminders of Him” stars Maika Monroe as Kenna, a woman seeking redemption after spending several years in prison for driving drunk and getting into an accident that killed her boyfriend, Scotty. Kept from her daughter and shunned by the community, Kenna turns to the only person who will listen to her: Scotty’s friend, Ledger, played by Tyriq Withers.

From early reviews, “Reminders of Him” has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 75%, a good sign considering “Regretting You” had a 29% score and still was able to draw in Hoover’s fans.

Finally, A24 will release the microbudget horror film “Undertone,” which combines occult horror with podcasting through its unique sound design. Made on a reported budget of just $500,000, A24 acquired the film after its premiere last August at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, later screening it in Sundance’s Midnight section. It’s set to bring back a high return on investment with a projected $7 million opening weekend.

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