Pixar's Lightyear Doesn't Blast Off At The Box Office, Comes In Much Lower Than Expectations

After its latest films came to Disney+ instead of theaters, Pixar's Toy Story spin-off Lightyear released in theaters this weekend and was expected to bring in a lot of money at the box office. The weekend numbers are now in, and while it did pull in lots of cash, it came in well below expectations.

Lightyear--which tells the origin story of Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Chris Evans--was expected to open with $72 million in the US this weekend. However, it ended up only making $51 million, according to Deadline.

For comparison, the last mainline Toy Story movie--2019's Toy Story 4--made $120.9 million during its opening weekend in the US. The Father's Day weekend in the US and Juneteenth being celebrated on Monday, June 20, could have helped improve Lightyear box office results, Deadline said, but it appears this did not happen.

Internationally, Lightyear was expected to make around $50 million this weekend, pushing the film's worldwide results to about $135 million. However, the movie made only around $34.6 million from international markets to push its global start to around $85.6 million.

The movie did not release in every international market, however, as it didn't launch in Middle East markets and theaters in Malaysia and Indonesia due to LGBTQ content.

Pixar's last movies before Lightyear--including Turning Red, Luca, and Soul--released directly on Disney+ due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pixar's Onward, which was released in theaters at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, made $142 million worldwide before being pulled due to the pandemic.

GameSpot's Lightyear review scored the film a 9/10. Reviewer Chris Hayner said, "Lightyear is a huge win for Pixar after not seeing its movies be in theaters for over two years. It's funny, heartfelt, beautifully made, and a great example of how to expand on an existing franchise without diluting it."