Box Office: ‘Hoppers’ Jumps to No. 1 With $13.2 Million Friday as ‘The Bride!’ Stumbles
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Pixar’s original animated adventure leads the weekend while Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ambitious monster romance struggles out of the gate.
Pixar may finally have the theatrical rebound it’s been searching for.
Disney and Pixar’s original animated adventure Hoppers landed in first place at the Friday box office, earning $13.2 million from roughly 4,000 theaters across North America. Early projections suggest the film could reach around $40 million by Sunday, with analysts noting strong audience reactions and a relatively quiet marketplace for family films that could help the movie sustain momentum in the weeks ahead.
Directed by We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong, Hoppers follows 19-year-old environmentalist Mabel, who transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver in order to infiltrate the animal kingdom and expose ecological threats. The voice cast includes Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco and Aparna Nancherla.
For Pixar, the film represents an important moment. The studio has struggled to replicate the theatrical dominance it once enjoyed during its peak run in the 2000s and early 2010s. The company’s last widely recognized original breakout was 2017’s Coco, which debuted with $50 million domestically and eventually grossed $823 million worldwide.
More recent originals have had a harder time finding an audience. Titles such as Onward and Elio opened modestly and failed to demonstrate the kind of staying power that once defined Pixar’s brand at the box office. If Hoppers can follow the trajectory of family hits like The Wild Robot or Sony’s GOAT—films that opened modestly before building strong word of mouth—it could still emerge as a long-term theatrical success.
Behind Hoppers, the weekend’s other major releases painted a more complicated picture for Hollywood’s early spring box office.
In second place, Paramount and Spyglass Media’s Scream 7 continued its theatrical run with $3.5 million on its second Friday in theaters. The horror sequel is expected to finish the weekend around $16.3 million, representing a steep 74 percent drop from its record-breaking opening weekend.
Despite the sharp decline, the seventh installment of the long-running franchise remains a financial success. The film opened to a franchise-best $64 million domestically and $97 million worldwide, and by the end of its second weekend its North American total should reach approximately $92 million. Considering the movie’s $45 million production budget, the sequel is already firmly in profitable territory.
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The weekend’s most concerning debut belongs to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!
The Warner Bros. horror romance starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale managed just $3 million on Friday from 3,304 theaters, far below initial expectations. Early forecasts suggested the film might open between $10 million and $15 million for the weekend, but updated estimates now place the three-day debut closer to $6.7 million.
For a film carrying a reported production budget of roughly $90 million, that result represents a worrying start.
Set in 1930s Chicago, The Bride! reimagines Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein mythology as a violent, romantic crime saga. The story follows Frankenstein’s Monster, who resurrects a murdered woman and forms a dangerous partnership with her as the pair navigate a world of gangsters, corruption and chaos.
Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale lead the cast as the titular lovers, with Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening and Penélope Cruz rounding out the ensemble.
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The film’s bold tone and unusual genre mix have generated significant conversation throughout the awards season and festival circuit, but translating that buzz into box office turnout has proven difficult.
Elsewhere on the chart, Sony’s sports drama GOAT continued its strong theatrical run. The film earned $1.5 million on Friday and is expected to reach roughly $6.1 million for the weekend, bringing its domestic total to around $83 million.
Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights rounded out the top five with $1.2 million on Friday. The romantic literary adaptation is projected to finish the weekend near $3.7 million, pushing its North American total to approximately $78 million.
While the early March box office remains relatively quiet overall, the performance of Hoppers will be closely watched in the coming weeks. Pixar’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most reliable animation brands has taken several hits in recent years, and the studio is eager for a theatrical success that can restore confidence in its original storytelling.
For now, at least, audiences appear willing to take the leap.
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