Toy Story 3 logged the biggest debut in June history, taking in $109 million this weekend and extending Pixar's streak of opening at the top of the box office to 11.The last film of the franchise, which debuted a decade ago and introduced Pixar Animation Studios to the world, bested its competition — and predecessors — by a mile. The original movie opened to $39.1 million in 1995, while Toy Story 2 did $83 million four years later.
This time around, the cartoon added 3-D and Imax to the mix, boosting repeat business as kids checked out the film in different formats. The movie became Imax's biggest animated movie on record, taking in $8.4 million on 180 screens.
"Given the history of Toy Story, it was great to be invited to the club," says Greg Foster of Imax. The film trumped last year's Monsters Vs. Aliens, the previous record-holder at $5.1 million.
"This franchise hit on every cylinder, every time," says Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which releases Pixar's films. Pixar's other number ones include Finding Nemo, Up and Monsters, Inc. No Pixar movie has debuted below No. 1.
Even critics, an often haughty bunch, hopped aboard the Toy Story bandwagon. According to RottenTomatoes.com, which surveys film critics nationwide, no movie in the Toy Story franchise has gotten a thumbs-down, making it the best-reviewed franchise in Hollywood. A competing survey site, metacritic.com, reported that 92% of critics recommended the first film, 88% the second and 91% the last.
The computer-generated juggernaut, which features Tom Hanks and Tim Allen at its core, gave the industry a boost in what has been a middling summer. Competing films, while posing no threat to Toy Story's hold on the box office, enjoyed spillover audiences as the film sold out thousands of theaters.
"Given how much Toy Story had everyone's attention, we couldn't be happier with the weekend," says Rory Bruer of Sony Pictures, which released the remake of The Karate Kid last weekend. The film, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, dropped a respectable 48% from its debut, taking in $29 million and taking second place, according to studio estimates.
