Inside Out 2 hits theaters for increasingly rare 100-day run

Disney The company is looking to bring a little joy to theaters with the upcoming release of Pixar’s Inside Out 2.

Current projections call for the animated sequel to gross well over $85 million during its domestic release this weekend, making it the highest debut of any film released in the U.S. and Canada in 2024. Some even predict the film could secure more than $100 million at the box office, which would be its first since its release in July 2023. Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” has arrived in cinemas.

“Inside Out 2” has already made $13 million from Thursday night previews in North America. By comparison, 2019’s “Toy Story 4” earned $12 million from Thursday previews and raked in $120.9 million in its opening weekend.

A $50 million-plus opening would be a big boon for Pixar, which has struggled to recover at the box office in the wake of the pandemic, but Disney seems confident about Inside Out 2, which is expected to have a 100-day theatrical release date, something that’s almost unheard of outside of animated movies and action blockbusters these days.

While most consumers don’t care about theatrical window — the period during which a film stays exclusive in theaters for weeks or months before becoming available on streaming or other on-demand options — the promise of three or more months of exclusivity on the big screen means a lot to theater operators and box office analysts.

Before the pandemic, the industry standard was known as a 90-day theatrical release window (though the actual average was closer to 75 days, according to market research firm The Numbers).

Only a few films remain in theaters after that date, usually big franchises or blockbusters. After that period, films move into the home video realm and are available as digital downloads, DVDs or Blu-Ray discs, or on streaming sites. Films will still be shown in theaters after that date, but will compete with sales in the domestic market.

When the pandemic hit and movie theaters were forced to close, film studios had to decide whether to postpone film releases until theaters reopened, or make them available for streaming or video-on-demand in the meantime.

Disney was one of the companies at the time that chose to offer some of its animated films on the home market.

As cinemas began to reopen, studios renegotiated how long movies had to stay on the big screen before being released nationally. After all, new variants of the coronavirus and a yet-to-be-widely distributed vaccine kept many moviegoers at home. That resulted in wide variation in exclusivity periods, as each studio negotiated its own deals with the major cinema chains.

for example, Universal Focus Features has a contract that requires films to play in theaters for at least three weeks, or 17 days, before moving to premium video-on-demand platforms.

“The 90-day window was never going to be sustainable,” said Jeff Kaufman, senior vice president of film and marketing at Malco Theatres, “and the pandemic just accelerated that.”

Changes to theatrical release windows are creating complex issues for studios and cinemas.

Daniel Loria, senior vice president of content strategy and editorial director at the Box Office Company, explained that even before the pandemic, film studios were pushing for shorter release windows to cut marketing costs.

Studios had to spend a lot of money to promote their films in the run up to their theatrical release, and then do it again a few months later to transition the film to the domestic market. With a shorter release period, studios would not have to spend as much money to reacquaint audiences with the film, as it is likely that people will still remember it from its initial release.

“My impression of going to the cinema is [premium video on-demand] “The decision was usually made early on to avoid duplicating marketing spend,” Loria said.

Last year, the average movie theater length for a wide-release film was 39 days, according to The Numbers. So far in 2024, the average theater length is 29 days. Of course, this number is expected to grow as bigger blockbusters are released in the summer.

In some cases, studios have extended movie release windows well beyond the typical theatrical window: In 2022, for example, Paramount and Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick” played in theaters for more than 200 days before hitting the domestic market.

Also, these figures only indicate when a film will be available to rent in the domestic market — there is usually a much longer wait before a film is available as part of a subscription streaming service that is often “free” to subscribers.

According to The Numbers, the average time between a theatrical release and the start of a streaming subscription was 108 days in 2023.

There were early experiments with simultaneous releases, where movies were released in theaters and on streaming services at the same time, but this fell by the wayside as studios realized that simultaneous releases could cannibalize revenues and lead to increased rates of piracy.

It is also important to consider that many actors and directors have contractual clauses that allow them to receive a percentage of theatrical revenues. In 2021, actress Scarlett Johansson sued Disney for releasing her 2020 Marvel film Black Widow simultaneously on streaming and in theaters. She claimed that her contract with Disney guaranteed her an exclusive theatrical release for her solo film and that her compensation was based primarily on box office success. Johansson and Disney later settled for an undisclosed amount.

Still, Universal has dabbled in the simultaneous release model of horror films around Halloween, most recently opting to release Five Nights at Freddy’s simultaneously in theaters and on streaming service Peacock. The film had a stellar opening weekend, grossing over $80 million domestically, but ticket sales fell by more than 76% in its second week, to just $19 million.

Of course, shorter release windows and fewer ticket sales could hurt cinema chains struggling to recover from the pandemic, but some argue that getting the window wrong could also hurt the movies.

“Having an adequate cinema window is important not only to our theaters, but also to our studio partners as they need to realize the full promotional and economic benefits of a film’s theatrical release and continue to significantly increase the lifetime value of a film across all distribution channels, including streaming,” said Cinemark president and CEO Sean Gamble.

This is a lesson Disney has learned in the wake of the pandemic.

Walt Disney Animation and Pixar have struggled to recover at the box office after pandemic restrictions were eased and audiences returned to movie theaters. Much of that is due to Disney opting to release several of its animated movies directly on its streaming service, Disney+, while theaters were closed and even after they reopened.

The company has cut its creative team and moved to release theatrical films directly to digital in an effort to beef up its fledgling streaming service.

This dynamic has led parents to seek out Disney’s new releases on streaming services rather than in theaters, even after the company opted to bring movies back to the big screen.

As a result of these and other challenges, no Pixar or Walt Disney Animation animated film has grossed more than $480 million worldwide since 2019. By comparison, just before the pandemic, “Coco” made $796 million worldwide, “Incredibles 2” made $1.24 billion and “Toy Story 4” made $1.07 billion worldwide.

Box office experts see Inside Out 2 as a barometer for Pixar’s health and future: If the film can capture audience attention and perform well beyond its opening weekend, the animation studio could find itself back in the good graces of audiences and the industry.

The 100-day grace period for Inside Out 2 could be key.

Sebastian Gomez, research and data analyst at The Numbers, said Disney is one of the few studios that doesn’t have a traditional premium video-on-demand window, meaning that once a movie’s theatrical window ends, it moves to Disney+, where it’s free for subscribers, rather than an interim rental option.

By postponing the at-home release, Disney is trying to convince audiences that Pixar’s latest film is a “must-see” on the big screen.

The first film in the Inside Out series, released in 2015, grossed $90.4 million during its opening weekend and has grossed more than $850 million worldwide.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.