Lightyear Falls Behind Jurassic World at Weekend Box Office
Disney/Pixar’s latest film Lightyear serves as an origin story for beloved Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear. However, it has failed to resonate with audiences when put up against Summer juggernaut Jurassic World. According to a piece in Variety, Lightyear earned a modest $20.7 million during opening weekend.
The film started strong with a $5.2 million Thursday opening however Lightyear was originally expected to earn somewhere in the $70 – $80 million range for opening weekend. It is more likely that the film will not meet that benchmark and updated estimates suggest a $50 million – $55 million domestic opening.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the Disney debut though. Coming in at $50 million would mean that Lightyear will have the distinction of being one of the highest debuts for an animated film since the pandemic started. It also marks a return to cinemas for Disney who opted to bring Soul, Luca and Turning Red directly to the Disney+ streaming network.
As Variety points out, figures for Lightyear may not hold a candle to the $120.9 million opening of Toy Story 4 but these are different times and it does demonstrate that families are once again willing to head to the theaters.
Source: Pixar
The film, which reportedly cost $200 million to make, is doing well with audiences and currently has an A- Cinema Score. It also is “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes with a 77% critics score and 84% audience score.
Lightyear went up against another popular franchise, Jurassic World Dominion which is expected to earn $57.1 million during its second week at the box office. On top of the already $143 million it earned during last weeks debut, it looks like Jurassic World could be one of the heaviest hitters of the year at the domestic box office.
Source: Disney/ Pixar
Lightyear focuses on Buzz Lightyear, the character that inspired the action figure that would become one of Andy’s favorites in the Toy Story films. Chris Evans took over the role of Buzz (which was voiced in the Toy Story films by Tim Allen.) The film also starts the voices of Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
We will continue to keep tabs on how things are going at the box office. Readers are also encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for further Walt Disney World news and updates. We’ll be coming to you LIVE! from the theme parks each and every week.
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Source: Variety
