Pixar originals are bouncing back at the box office.
The studio’s latest animated adventure “Hoppers,” about a girl who transfers her mind into a robotic beaver, earned $46 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, according to estimates from Comscore. It’s the biggest debut for an original Pixar movie since “Coco,” which started with $50.8 million in 2017.
The success of “Hoppers” is a promising sign that Pixar can still make hit films that are not sequels to previous titles.
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For much of its history, the Disney animation studio was known for reliably producing one completely original smash after another, from “Toy Story” to “Monsters Inc.” and “Finding Nemo.” More recently, though, Pixar has had mixed success with new ideas, even as its sequels thrive.
Pixar’s last original film prior to “Hoppers” was 2025’s “Elio,” the story of a young boy who wishes to be abducted by aliens. The sci-fi movie’s weak $20.8 million debut was the worst opening weekend of any Pixar movie in history.
Pixar’s “Elemental,” another original story set in a world of anthropomorphic elements, had a similarly subdued start in 2023 with $29.6 million, though strong legs allowed the film to recover and finish with a solid $154 million in North American theaters. Beginning in 2020, a series of Pixar originals bypassed theaters and were released directly to Disney+ amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including “Soul” and “Turning Red.”
Pixar has had more success over the past decade with sequels, particularly 2024’s “Inside Out 2,” which became not only the biggest hit in the studio’s history, but the highest-grossing animated movie ever at the time, finishing with well over $1.6 billion globally. “Ne Zha 2” later surpassed it to become the current highest-grossing animated movie of all time worldwide.
For a studio that once made sequels only sporadically, these box-office grosses have raised questions about the viability of original Pixar stories going forward.
“Hoppers” faring well in theaters suggests it’s still possible for Pixar to drum up interest in a movie that isn’t based on pre-existing material. The sci-fi comedy enjoyed strong reviews from critics, with 94% fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience reception was also positive, with the film earning an average grade of A among moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.
Next up from Pixar will be a sequel: The highly anticipated “Toy Story 5,” which hits theaters on June 19. But Pixar will follow that up with another original: “Gatto,” the story of a black cat in Italy who “finds himself forced to forge an unexpected friendship that may finally lead him to his purpose,” per the studio’s description. It hits theaters in March 2027.
This weekend’s other major new release was a box-office bust: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!,” a new take on “The Bride of Frankenstein” that divided critics and only opened to $7.3 million, putting it in third place after last weekend’s release “Scream 7,” which earned $17.3 million in its second weekend.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Hoppers’ scores biggest debut for an original Pixar film since 2017