Why Hoppers Is Not Yet a Box Office Success

The fate of Hoppers has not yet been sealed at the box office. This latest movie from Pixar came out with a strong start when it released on March 6 in the United States, thankfully earning much more in its domestic opener than Elio did in 2025. Hoppers has continued to make waves overseas too, which is a great sign for an original animated work in a climate when audiences — despite many saying they want to see something new — have favored watching sequels or reboots in existing franchises, like Zootopia 2, the live-action Lilo & Stitch, and Avatar: Fire and Ash. However, the film’s high production budget and serious competition from a couple of movies in March and April threaten its chances to become a box office success by the end of its theatrical run.

Hoppers faces a lot of competition from other family-friendly movies

As of March 30, Pixar’s Hoppers has earned $297 million at the global box office, $138 million domestically and $159 million internationally. These figures come from Box Office Mojo, though these totals will continue to grow while the film remains in theaters likely until May.

For its opening weekend in the US and Canada, Hoppers earned $46 million, putting it on pace with 2017’s Coco that earned $50 million in its domestic opener. When compared to other recent animated films, its trajectory at the box office was stronger than GOAT, Dog Man, and The Wild Robot. And for the first few weeks, the movie was able to hold strong, riding the wave of high scores from fans and critics (both at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes). Tom, the humorous green lizard from the film, has become a viral meme across social media that has brought much-needed attention too.

That said, according to The Los Angeles Times, the production budget for Hoppers stands at $150 million, which means that the film will need to cross the $375 million mark (that’s 2.5 times its budget) to be considered a box office hit. Under normal circumstances, the movie wouldn’t have too much trouble earning the remaining $78 million to break even. And by the end of its run, it looks like it could reach that figure, if just barely.

However, its early position in the spring theatrical calendar has meant that it would need to compete with two blockbusters. Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary has become an unexpected hit with families as a sci-fi PG-13 flick, particularly with its adorable alien-crab Rocky. The Amazon MGM Studios film released only a couple of weeks after Hoppers on March 20, which has greatly slowed its momentum. And then this week, it will face the juggernaut that is The Super Mario Galaxy Movie from Nintendo and Illumination. Even if this sequel is not expected to be as successful as its 2023 predecessor, it’s still set to break box office records and sap much of the energy from Hoppers as a fellow animated film targeted toward kids and families.

From a bird’s-eye view, though, Pixar could consider Hoppers to be a box office success, or at least close enough that it might as well be one. The studio was caught flat-footed last year with Elio, a film that only brought in $154 million worldwide. While some outlets reported that the movie had a $150 million budget, an artist who worked on the film told The Hollywood Reporter that it was actually more than $200 million. Either way, Elio was a huge bomb at the box office, in part due to a lack of marketing. Fortunately for the studio, Zootopia 2 has more than made up for the difference, with the sequel earning $1.8 billion worldwide. That should also give Hoppers some breathing room, regardless of how it ultimately lands on Disney’s financial sheet.

Source: Comingsoon.net