Pixar’s Hoppers opens with $46M; Warner Bros.’ The Bride! stumbles

Pixar’s Hoppers topped the weekend box office with an estimated $46 million in domestic ticket sales and roughly $42 million from international markets, for an $88 million global opening, studio estimates showed Sunday. The film opened in about 4,000 locations against a $150 million production budget and posted a $13.4 million Friday haul, including previews.

Hoppers, directed by Daniel Chong and produced by Nicole Paradis Grindle, arrived as a rare original from Pixar at scale. The film’s premise—an animal lover whose mind is transferred into a lifelike robotic beaver to speak for wildlife—paired with strong audience indicators: a 94 percent Rotten Tomatoes critic rating, 75 percent “definitely recommend” in PostTrak polling and an A CinemaScore. Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, hailed the turnout, saying, “This is a fantastic original film from the incredible team at Pixar, and it’s wonderful to see audiences coming out with their friends and families to enjoy it together,” and congratulated the team on “a tremendous launch.”

The business reading is unambiguous: Hoppers is the biggest debut for an original animated film since Coco in 2017 and a break from Pixar’s recent soft openings for original projects. The film’s result is particularly notable after Pixar’s Elio became the studio’s worst opening ever and Elemental posted a tepid start before growing into a sleeper hit. With robust opening-weekend numbers and sterling audience sentiment, Hoppers looks positioned for a long theatrical run that could offset its six-figure production cost once global holds and marketing expenses are accounted for.

Warner Bros.’ The Bride! offered the weekend’s counterpoint. The film earned just $3 million on Friday, including $1 million in previews, with middling critical and audience marks: a 60 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 71 percent audience score and a C+ CinemaScore. Hollywood Reporter wrote that The Bride! “earned just $3 million Friday, including $1 million in previews, after getting butchered by both audiences and critics.” The picture’s release was bumpy: the studio reportedly made edits after poor test screenings and pushed the release from September in part to avoid competing with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.

Forecasts for The Bride! varied wildly. Hollywood Reporter noted that the studio had been targeting $16 million to $18 million heading into the weekend, later expressing hopes for $8 million to $10 million, while rival estimates put the opening as low as $7 million. Only Friday figures were available in the current reporting, leaving the final weekend tally unresolved.

The divergent outcomes highlight industry trends and strategic fault lines. Family-oriented originals that offer event viewing retain theatrical power when they pair quality with broad appeal, creating shared outings that drive box-office stability. By contrast, adult-skewing originals face higher sensitivity to test-screen reactions, awards positioning pressures and crowded release calendars, which can result in last-minute retooling that damages marketplace momentum.

For studios, Hoppers reinforces that original intellectual property can still be a dependable theatrical driver when storytelling, marketing and timing align. For Warner Bros., The Bride!’s early returns will intensify scrutiny of release strategy and post-test editorial choices. The weekend thus crystallizes a narrow advantage for original family animation at the multiplex and a cautionary tale for riskier adult fare seeking box-office oxygen.