Hoppers Still Bouncing To $40M Opening, Best For Pixar Original Since Coco; The Bride! Isnt Beautiful With $8M+ – Saturday AM Box Office Update

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SATURDAY AM: Pixar original’s Hoppers is still coursing to a U.S./Canada opening around $40M in what’s fueling a $91M overall domestic box office weekend, +63% over the same period a year ago. It’s a win for original animation which has often struggled in its openings over the last nine years.

However, this weekend isn’t a win for auteur-driven genre, specifically Maggie Gyllenhaal’s $80M feature production The Bride! (some yell at me that it’s really $100M) which audiences aren’t making a date with, giving the Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale movie a C+ CinemaScore, a low 43% definite recommend on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak and about $8M-$10M in ticket sales (some rivals see it around $6.5M). The Bride! isn’t getting engaged to foreign audiences either; I’m hearing global is between $16M-$20M. If Bride! falls in the mid-single digits, it will be the lowest opening for Warner Bros since 2024’s The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim ($4.55M). A year ago, the sci-fi auteur-driven misfire Mickey 17 opened higher at $19M. We’ll unstitch The Bride! in a bit.

Word of mouth is great on Hoppers with a solid A CinemaScore and a very good 75% definite recommend on PostTrak. Kids under 12 are giving it 90% positive on PostTrak and a 61% must-see right away. What’s working here? Pixar made their movies “fun” and “funny” again. Read, there’s a scene in the middle of the film [SPOILER ALERT] where the Beaver accidentally squishes something. The entire El Capitan Theater at the Hollywood premiere roared in that moment. Also, don’t underestimate talking animal movies. Post Zootopia 2, GOAT, they’re the motion picture industry’s best friends. Why was Pixar tying its shoelaces together and falling down with originals? A WSJ profile says that Docter inspired frosh filmmakers to make autobiographical movies that weren’t necessarily wide-appealing.

Hoppers! is female leaning among general audiences at 52%. Overall, an even play among demos with Female over 25 leading at 29%, men over 25 at 27%, women under 25 at 23% and men under 25 at 21%. Overall make-up of the audience is 52% general, 24% parent, and 24% kids under 12. Diversity demos are 45% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic and Latino, 14% Asian American, 8% Black and 6% Native American. PLFs are driving 27% of the weekend with the pic playing best in South Central, Mountain and West. The AMC Dine-In Disney Springs, Florida is the pic’s best grossing location currently with around $50K.

The Bride! drew 53% guys, 47% women. The 25-34 set had the best turnout (if you can call it that) at 31%. 18-34 repped 56%. Diversity demos are 51% Caucasian, 26% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Black, 9% Asian American and 4% other. Interestingly enough, I hear that The Bride! is doing well in all East and West theaters where Hamnet fared well, but that’s a small crowd considering the Oscar contender has a current running stateside gross of $23.7M. AMC Lincoln Square with around $33K is the movie’s top grossing location so far.

Golly gosh, what’s up here? We’re still sorting but period horror is hard. We’ve always said that, and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu ($21.6M 3-day, $95.6M final domestic) is an anomaly. Period horror is typically expensive and risky (hence why Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein went to Netflix; that said the streamer passed on The Bride! given its budget). Period horror divides genre and sophisticated moviegoers, the Bride! making its play toward the latter. “It’s an A24 genre movie,” said one industry source, but it’s at a significantly much higher production cost. “The motion picture industry is in such a fragile state, we can’t afford misses like this. Scripts should be better baked,” cried the same source. Warner Bros shouldn’t be faulted for backing an auteur and getting behind a daredevil genre project with a different angle. The industry questioned such pricey swings as Sinners and One Battle After Another, but those clearly paid off. For all the pre-release dinging that One Battle After Another endured, no one predicted that it would be an awards season juggernaut. In order to take the swings on a movie like The Bride! on a motion picture slate, it’s offset by the Supermans, the Minecraft Movies, etc on the schedule. That said, the word was always out that The Bride! was a challenge to pin down during post-production. The release date changed two times from the first weekend in October 2025 to the last weekend in September to finally this weekend (that latter move was made a year ago by Warners). As insular as Hollywood may be perceived, word of mouth gets out and becomes wildfire with John Q public in the social media age. Most first cuts start out messy and long; some are harnessed and course-corrected, and others like this, I hear, were hard to land in regards to pacing. When it comes to The Bride! being left at the alter, it’s not about marketing with this movie. Christian Bale, Buckley and Maggie Gyllenhaal have been on a heavy duty press tour over the last two weeks in NYC and London. It’s in the DNA of the movie. It doesn’t want to be a horror film.

Separately, tracking service GreenlightAnalytics(né The Quorum) showed Netflix’s Frankenstein converting awareness into interest at an unusually efficient rate (70% Interest Among Aware by release) back in November, with balanced gender appeal and strong under-35 buy-in. “These are the same demos that typically drive theatrical genre turnout,” read a recent report. By comparison, The Bride!‘s diagnostics were low with a theatrical audience intent of 32%, Opening Weekend intent among aware audiences at 16%, and Willingness to Pay at 42%. Numbers which “reflect a lack of urgency and lower-ceiling monetization potential,” added Greenlight.

“The behavioral pattern may indicate that Netflix’s lauded November release absorbed some of the audience’s Frankenstein appetite, leaving the theatrical release to compete more heavily for core genre audiences rather than broad casual demand,” said Greenlight.

The weekend’s top 10:

FRIDAY PM: Pixar is bound for its best opening since 2017’s Coco with Hoppers springing to a wonderful $40M weekend opening at 4,000 locations. Hoppers first day/previews alone are estimated $12.7M (possibly $13M by end of night), which is higher than the Friday/previews of 2020’s Onward ($12M, $39.1M opening), 2023’s Elemental ($11.7M, $29.6M opening) and last summer’s Elio ($8.96M, $20.8M opening). Though no official audience scores yet, we’re hearing that they are pacing with the pic’s great critical score, now 93% certified fresh. Muy bien, Hoppers.

We’re in a better position with the No. 1 opening film than we were a year ago, which was Warner Bros’ Bong Joon Ho sci-fi feature Mickey 17 which fizzled with a $19M opening.

Social media analytics firm RelishMix measures the pic’s social media reach before opening at 363.6M across Facebook, TikTok, X, Instagram and YouTube which is just under Pixar’s Toy Story spinoff Lightyear (371M), far above Onward (284M), Elemental (301.3M) and Elio (272.5M). Overall, Hoppers‘ SMU is “13% above a wide range of new family animated genre norms,” says RelishMix.

“Convo runs positive forHoppers, with the crowd buying the high concept as family friendly sci-fi and mostly rewarding the self-aware humor. The dominant shorthand is mashup math that sells it fast, ‘Over the HedgeplusAvatarequals this’ and ‘Open SeasonmeetsAvatar.‘ The cuteness marketing is working embarrassingly well, ‘They’re really making me hyped for a beaver’ and ‘I need a plush of the beaver, it looks so squishy.’ Comedy beats are the trailer MVP, ‘Drive now rocket ship love it’ and ‘Pond rules for all.’ Craft and style get real credit, ‘Very different and unique animation cool’ and ‘Looks different than the usual Pixar style, characters have character.’ The fandom and creator halo help: ‘I love the voice actress of Mabel, Piper Curda.’”

Not doing so well, and far below forecasts is Warner Bros’ Maggie Gyllenhaal directed The Bride! which is seeing $3M today for a potential $8M-$10M opening at 3,304 sites in third for the reported $80M feature production. The movie is being booted out of second by the second weekend of Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream 7 which is seeing $5.5M today for an $18M (-72%) at 3,540 over Friday-Sunday, and a total ten-day cume of $94M by EOD Sunday. Who knew Scream 7 would open so big? That high teens number is what Warners was hoping for on Bride! The Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score at 66% isn’t far from the critics blase score of 61%. Critics are divided ala an A24 genre movie for the pro-female Lady Frankenstein movie. On one side you have Wall Street Journal‘s Kyle Smith ripping, “Like Dr. F. himself, Ms. Gyllenhaal has unleashed a monster on unsuspecting countrymen. A witty theater owner would match the mood by selling torches and pitchforks at the concession stand” whereas The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw exclaims that it’s a “gangster joyride” and that “Without (Jessie) Buckley, this would have been lacking; with her, it’s a very bizarre and enjoyable spectacle of married bliss.” The film has spoken to some, but to others, it’s a lead balloon.

The Bride‘s social media universe reach at 178.2M is “running -14% below horror franchises/remake norms across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined with a brisk push on Instagram over the last month,” says RelishMix.

Says RelishMix about word of mouth, “Mixed-negative leaning chatter for The Bride! clusters around fatigue with parallel Frankenstein releases, skepticism toward reimaginings, and fears the concept could tip into self-parody. Some read the mash-up as clever Venn-diagram marketing that risks confusing intent, while others worry style will outrun story. Comparisons to Guillermo del Toro’s take and Penny Dreadful are used as quality bars rather than sequel gripes. Trailer pacing and legibility also take hits, with complaints about over-cutting and muddled tone. Representative lines include ‘This feels like a satire of itself’ and ‘So many Frankensteins lately, I’m not convinced.’”

Fourth goes to Sony’s GOAT‘s fourth weekend with $6.7M (-44%) at 3,303 locations after a $1.5M Friday heading to a running total by Sunday near $84M. Fifth is Warner Bros/MRC’s fourth frame of Wuthering Heights with $3.4M (-49%) at 2,512 theaters after a $1.1M Friday for a running total by Sunday of $78.4M.

FRIDAY AM: Pixar Original Hoppers is off to a solid start in previews with $3.2M. Keep in mind that’s $2M from Thursday night and the rest from Saturday previews a week ago.

That preview figure tracks with 2024’s Kung Fu Panda 4 (granted, not original), which did $3.8M in previews for a $58M 3-day. The expectation is that Hoppers is in the high-$30M+ range at 4,000 North American theaters, which would be the best domestic start for a Pixar original since 2017’s Coco ($50.8M 3-day, 5-day of $72.9M). The $150M production Hoppers already has the best reviews for a Pixar original since Coco (96% certified fresh to 97%). Pixar originals have struggled post-Covid, with Elio hitting a brand-opening low of $20.8M last year.

Already, Hoppers‘ previews figure is above 2020’s Onward ($2.7M, $39.1M opening weekend), 2023’s Elemental ($2.5M, $29.6M opening), this year’s GOAT ($1.5M, $27.2M 3-day), 2024’s The Wild Robot ($2M, $35.8M) and last year’s Dog Man ($1.4M, $36M opening).

RELATED: The 60 Movies That Have Made More Than $1 Billion At The Global Box Office

Stateside, Hoppers will have all the bounce from such ticket upcharges as 400 Imax screens (sharing with The Bride!), 1,000+ premium large-format screens, 2,200 3D screens and 350 D-Box/motion screens.

Warner Bros is reporting a low $1 million for The Bride! The pic starring Jessie Buckley and Christian cost a reported $80M before P&A. Rotten Tomatoes reviews stand at 61% fresh. In NRG tracking, it was tracking best in first choice with women. In unaided awareness, it was best with women over 25. Warners is hoping for high teens stateside, $38M-$40M global. Some in exhibition believe it can be as low as $12M this weekend in U.S./Canada. The pic is playing on 34,000 global screens, 28,500 of those in 69 territories abroad including France, Korea, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, UK and China.

RELATED: ‘The Bride!’ Review: Maggie Gyllenhaal Reinvents The ‘Frankenstein’ Story And Gives Sensational Jessie Buckley And Christian Bale A Monster Mashup Like No Other

Spring break this weekend on ComScore shows 5% K-12 schools out, moving to 10% by Monday. Colleges are 9% on break upping to 26% off by Monday. March spring breaks will reach a peak on Friday, March 20 with 38% K-12 off, 37% colleges on break.

Rest of the week:

1) Scream 7 (Par) 3,540 theaters, Wk $76M/Wk 1
2) GOAT (Sony) 3,707 theaters, Wk $15.1M (-27%), Total $77.1M/Wk 3
3) Wuthering Heights (WB) 3,221 theaters, Wk $9.6M (-51%), Total $75M/Wk 3
4) EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (NEON) 1,963 theaters Wk $5.1M (+19%), Total $9.4M/Wk 2
5) Crime 101 (AMZ) 2,607 theaters, Wk $4.9M (-36%), Total $31.5M/Wk 3

RELATED:‘Hoppers’ Review: Pixar’s Quirky And Caring Romp Is A Funny, Emotional Love Letter To The Environment