‘Lightyear’ Fires Up $5.2M In Previews

deadline.com:

Pixar’s return to the big screen, Lightyear, did $5.2M between fan Wednesday previews and Thursday night shows, which is just under the $6.3M that Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did back in April over its first two days of previews.Lightyear‘s Wednesday fan screenings started at 6PM, while Thursday showtimes began at 3PM.

The sci-fi origin story of space ranger Buzz Lightyear is booked at 4,255 theaters and is expected to do between $70M-$85M. Global start is being eyed at $135M, with the overseas footprint being 43 material markets, representing 79% of international.

Rotten Tomatoes reviews are at 80% certified fresh which is below the high 90%-100% range of the Toy Story movies. If the family film is going to overindex, it boil down to Father’s Day traffic, not to mention, the Juneteenth holiday being celebrated on Monday.

To date during the pandemic, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 owns the best opening for a family movie at $72.1M.Lightyear is well ahead of the Tuesday pre-holiday previews of Universal/Illumination’s Sing 2 ($1.6M) and Disney’s Encanto ($1.5M).