The long-awaited new installment of Disney-Pixar’s groundbreaking CG film franchise, Toy Story 4 bowed this weekend with great success across numerous territories. Directed by Josh Cooley, the adventurous reunion for Buzz, Woody, Bo Peep scored $238 million worldwide — the highest-ever three day opening for an animated feature. Audiences in the U.S., Latin America and Europe especially eager to check in with Andy’s beloved playthings 24 years after the first film debuted.
However, as speculators predicted ahead of the weekend, the sequel faced stiff competition in China from the first-ever national theatrical release of Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning feature Spirited Away (2001). The Japanese classic, which follows a healthy cinema debut for the director’s My Neighbor Totoro (1993) in the country last year, took the top spot with $28 million — more than double what was earned by Toy Story 4, which is the first of the film series to get a theatrical release in China and enjoyed far fewer screening engagements.
Domestically, Toy Story 4 sold $118 million worth of tickets and boasts a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Toy Story 3, released nine years ago, also received rave reviews and became the first animated feature to gross more than $1 billion in worldwide box office. The original film, released in 1995 as the first fully CG-animated feature film and the debut full length movie from Pixar, totted up $395 million in its day.
