Hard as it may be to believe, the first Incredibles movie came out before superhero movies dominated the box office. It was 2004, back before Iron Man started the MCU, and even before Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Now that the Incredibles are back after a 14-year wait, perhaps it’s not surprising that Pixar’s latest shattered more than one record during its opening weekend. Everything was lined-up perfectly for the flick.
Incredibles 2 has the biggest debut of any animated film ever made. It made $180 million at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, a figure that blew the previous record-holder, Finding Dory, out of the water (pun very much intended). That movie — also a sequel to a beloved Pixar film — made $135 in its opening weekend. Finding Dory held the record ever since its 2016 release, having bested Shrek the Third in 2007 to win the title.
That’s not the only record that Incredibles 2 smashed. The film now has the biggest opening of any PG-rated movie, having snatched the belt from the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie.
Initially, Incredibles 2 was projected to open somewhere in the $120 to $140 million range, but those figures were later upped to an estimate of $170 million. Incredibles 2 topped even that. What went right for the Parr family?
Disney movies — especially Pixar films — are already major events, the type of movie that people still get excited for even when they’re standalone films based on original scripts. These days, the box office is typically dominated by sequels or adaptations of books or comics. Incredibles 2 still has that Pixar appeal (and after a 14-year wait, tons of anticipation) and it so happens to be part of the era’s hottest genre: the superhero film. Even though this summer is jam-packed with superhero flicks, Incredibles 2 still stood out.
It probably helps that it’s hitting theaters in a relatively small lull in the superhero summer release calendar. Deadpool 2 was a month ago, and Ant-Man and the Wasp doesn’t hit theaters until July.
Incredibles 3 doesn’t seem so crazy now, but there’s still no confirmation.
