Hoppers Box Office Collection: Pixar's latest film leaps to $88 million worldwide, biggest opening since Coco

Pixar Animation Studios has given the film industry something to cheer about. Its latest original feature, ‘Hoppers’, opened to $88 million worldwide at the weekend — the strongest launch for an original animated film since ‘Coco’ hit cinemas nearly a decade ago.

Pixar Hoppers Box Office Collection

The domestic market led the charge, with the film pulling in $46 million across North America in its opening weekend. Overseas, it added $42 million across 40 territories, with the UK, Mexico, and France leading the international charge.

In India, early footfall has been steady, with the film grossing approximately ₹3.50 crore across its first four days — modest figures, but encouraging ones among urban family audiences.

The result lands as a genuine relief for Pixar, a studio that has struggled in recent years to convince audiences to turn out for new, non-sequel stories. The numbers comfortably surpass the studio's most recent original openings — ‘Elio’ managed just $20.8 million last year, while ‘Elemental’ scraped $29.6 million in 2023.

The pressure on ‘Hoppers’ to prove that Pixar originals could still work at the box office was considerable, with pre-release estimates varying widely.

The film follows Mabel Tanaka, an animal lover whose mind is transferred into a lifelike robotic beaver in order to communicate with animals and save their habitat from destruction, inadvertently starting an uprising in the process.

The star-studded voice cast includes Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, and Meryl Streep.

The film was directed by Daniel Chong, best known for the animated series ‘We Bare Bears’, and development on the project lasted six years.

Critics have responded warmly. ‘Hoppers’ is the only film among this weekend's major releases to boast both strong critical and audience scores, with a 94 per cent rating from critics and audiences alike on Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywood Reporter That represents Pixar's highest Rotten Tomatoes score in nine years.

Disney Entertainment's co-chairman Alan Bergman was effusive in his praise. "This is a fantastic original film from the incredible team at Pixar, and it's wonderful to see audiences coming out with their friends and families to enjoy it together," he said.

The result carries added weight given the context of the broader industry. In recent years, original fare has been a tougher sell, with Pixar's own ‘Elio’ fizzling against its $150 million budget. Yet analyst David A. Gross struck an optimistic note about what lies ahead. "When Disney and Pixar have a picture that delivers, they set it up for the long run. It gives positive word-of-mouth time to circulate… families and groups have a chance to plan a visit, and kids return for repeat viewing."

‘Hoppers’ cost $150 million to produce — a figure that reflects Pixar's efforts to bring budgets under tighter control after an era in which films routinely cost upwards of $200 million. With spring holidays approaching and strong word-of-mouth already building, projections for its final global tally look healthy, with some analysts suggesting it could outgross 'Elemental's eventual $496 million worldwide haul.

The film's performance at the very least proves that Pixar originals can still be viable — a point that matters as the studio prepares sequels including ‘Toy Story 5’, ‘Incredibles 3’, and ‘Coco 2’. Those franchises, after all, only exist because of the original hits that came before them.