‘Onward’ on Track to Earn $40 Million Box Office Opening

Disney/Pixar’s “Onward” is heading for a $40 million opening weekend after making an estimated $12.1 million on Friday from 4,310 screens.

While that hits the lower end of $40-45 million pre-release projections set by Disney and independent trackers, that result would still stand as one of the lowest opening weekends ever for a Pixar release.Only three films in Pixar’s history have ever opened to less than $40 million.

Two of them were the studio’s first pair of films, “Toy Story” in 1995 and “A Bug’s Life” in 1998.

Because of inflation, the only true comp for “Onward” is “The Good Dinosaur,” which opened to $39 million in November 2015.

In terms of March animated releases, “Onward” is well short of the record set by the Disney animated film “Zootopia,” which opened to $75 million in 2016.The good news for “Onward” is that reception for the film is very strong.

After receiving an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics,

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