When in doubt, dispatch a comedic troupe of talking animals.
Pixar Animation, which has struggled to find original hits in recent years, found an instant crowd pleaser over the weekend with “Hoppers.” It collected roughly $46 million in the United States and Canada from Thursday through Sunday — the best domestic start for a Pixar original in nearly a decade. “Hoppers,” which received stratospheric reviews, is about a college student who uses technology to become a beaver, inadvertently igniting a wacky animal kingdom uprising. (Pity the Insect Queen, voiced by Meryl Streep.)
The weekend box office also highlighted a less pleasant reality of the modern film business: Heavy spending on auteur filmmaking can result in a financial wipeout. “The Bride!,” which imagines an empowered, punk rock mate for Victor Frankenstein’s monster, sold about $7 million in tickets at domestic theaters. Warner Bros. spent at least $80 million on the R-rated movie, not including tens of millions of dollars in marketing costs, and was hoping that it would sell at least $16 million over its first few days in theaters.
Studios receive about 50 percent of ticket revenue, with theaters keeping the balance.
“Hoppers” was easily the No. 1 movie in North America over the weekend, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. Ticket buyers gave the film an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Pixar spent an estimated $150 million to make the PG-rated film, not including marketing costs. “Hoppers” collected an additional $43 million overseas, for a global total of $88 million. Box office analysts said on Sunday that, based on weekend ticket sales, “Hoppers” could ultimately generate $500 million or more worldwide.
Pixar, which is owned by Disney, has delivered smash hit sequels in recent years, including “Inside Out 2,” which had $1.7 billion in worldwide ticket sales in 2024. But the studio has recently struggled to attract large audiences to its original movies. At a time when streaming services have proliferated and the broader economy is unsettled, families want assurance that a movie is worth its ticket price.
Pixar’s most-recent original, “Elio,” was a disaster, arriving to $20 million in domestic ticket sales last year and only managing $154 million worldwide by the end of its run. In contrast, “Hoppers” gave Pixar its biggest original debut since “Coco,” which had $50.8 million in opening-weekend sales in 2017, or about $68 million after adjusting for inflation. (“Coco 2” is on the way.)
The animation industry has a long history of success with anthropomorphic animals, but there has been a resurgence lately. “Zootopia 2” (Disney) was Hollywood’s No. 1 movie in 2025, with $1.9 billion in global ticket sales, according to Comscore. “Goat,” a modestly budgeted talking-animal movie from Sony, has performed better than analyst expectations in recent weeks, so far collecting $146 million worldwide.
For this weekend in the United States and Canada, “Scream 7” (Paramount) was second, with about $17.3 million in ticket sales, giving the film a strong two-week domestic total of $93.4 million.
“The Bride!” was a distant third, ending an astounding run at Warner Bros. in which 10 consecutive films arrived at No. 1. Audiences gave “The Bride!,” which was directed and written by Maggie Gyllenhaal, a C-plus grade in CinemaScore exit polls. Reviews were weak.
“The Bride!” also appeared to be dead on arrival overseas, where it generated about $6 million in weekend ticket sales from 70 countries. Analysts had predicted roughly $22 million before its release.
Brooks Barnes is the chief Hollywood correspondent for The Times. He has reported on the entertainment industry for 25 years.
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