Disney Shareholders Could Experience Joy As 'Inside Out 2' Crushes Box Office, Nears $1B Milestone That Haunted Company In 2023

Animated sequel "Inside Out 2" from Walt Disney Co DIS has won the domestic and worldwide box office for a second straight weekend.

In just two weekends, "Inside Out 2" is now the highest-grossing film of 2024 both domestically and worldwide, which could make Disney shareholders happy. The film passed "Dune: Part Two," which totaled $282.1 million domestically and $711.8 million worldwide.

What Happened: After a disappointing 2023, which saw no Disney movies hit the $1 billion worldwide gross milestone, Disney could have its first $1 billion hit of 2024.

"Inside Out 2" grossed $100 million in its second weekend domestically, adding to its impressive domestic opening weekend haul of $154 million. The film ranked seventh all-time for its second weekend and became the highest-grossing animated film for a second weekend, as reported by Variety.

The movie now grossed $355.2 million domestically and $369.2 million in international markets, good for a worldwide total of $724.4 million, as reported by BoxOfficeMojo.

"Excitement created by the monumental opening weekend of ‘Inside Out 2' sparked a massive outpouring of interest and carried over into another phenomenal weekend for the film and the industry," Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said, as shared by Variety.

The $355.2 million domestic total is just shy of the total domestic gross of the 2015 original "Inside Out" film ($356.9 million). "Inside Out" grossed $858.9 million worldwide.

Why It's Important: The strong showing of "Inside Out 2" could provide a mix of emotions for Disney shareholders, but mostly joy.

Disney ended 2023 with no movies grossing $1 billion worldwide and "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" was its biggest hit at $359.0 million domestically and $845.6 million globally. Both "Barbie" and "Super Mario Bros. Movie" from other studios hit the $1 billion figure globally for the year.

The 2023 year marked the first time Disney did not have at least one $1 billion grossing film globally since 2014 when taking out the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 pandemic-impacted years. The streak included hit franchises like Star Wars and Marvel. In 2022, "Avatar: The Way of Water" passed $1 billion globally. In 2019, before the pandemic, Disney had six $1 billion films for the year.

Recent hits like "Inside Out 2" and "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" could help struggling movie theater companies like AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC and Cinemark Holdings CNK.

Comscore data shows the year-to-date domestic box office down 21%, a small improvement from being down 23.8% last week. The domestic box office was down 23.5% year-over-year for the Spring season and down 21.6% for the winter season according to BoxOfficeMojo.

The upcoming Disney release "Deadpool & Wolverine" could provide a lift to both Disney and movie theater stocks. The July 26 release has high expectations and could set records for R-rated films.

The third movie in the Deadpool franchise is getting an opening in China with a modified version, which could provide a boost as the first film didn't play in the region and the second film got a modified version released months after the domestic open.

Tracking shows "Deadpool & Wolverine" on pace to open with $200 million to $239 million.

"Deadpool" grossed $363.1 million domestically and $782.8 million worldwide, while the sequel grossed $324.6 million domestically and $785.9 million worldwide.

The movies trailed "Joker" as the highest-grossing R-rated movie worldwide, which brought in $1.06 billion. Hit 2023 movie "Oppenheimer" grossed $959.2 million worldwide, ranking second all-time for R-rated movies.

Given the success of the first two movies, the anticipation for the third movie and the record-breaking trailer, "Deadpool & Wolverine" has a shot at breaking some records.

First-day ticket sales of “Deadpool & Wolverine” set R-rated movie records, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with around $8.9 million in theatrical gross already represented.

“Some 200,000 movie fans have bought their AMC tickets already. This is more Day 1 ticket sales at AMC than for any other R-rated movie ever,” AMC CEO Adam Aron previously tweeted.

The strong open for "Inside Out 2" and the anticipation for "Deadpool & Wolverine" could see Disney have at least two $1 billion movies in 2024, a welcome joy for Disney shareholders.

DIS Price Action: Disney shares trade at $102 versus a 52-week trading range of $78.73 to $123.74. Disney stock is up 15% over the last year.

Photo: “Inside Out 2” courtesy Disney UK