'Toy Story 5' rakes in the biggest box-office debut of the year 

NEW YORK (AP):

Toy Story still has a friend in movie-goers. The fifth instalment in the Pixar series debuted with US$160 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, easily setting a new franchise record and notching the biggest opening weekend of the year.

Launching 31 years after the original Toy Story first landed in theatres, the film far surpassed the previous series-best debut. Internationally, it was just as successful, with US$152 million in opening-weekend sales, for a worldwide haul of US$312 million. The franchise is one of the most profitable for The Walt Disney Co, and had collectively grossed more than US$3 billion, while also pulling in billions from merchandising.

Though the series seemed to reach a conclusion with 2010’s Toy Story 3, the decision to revive the franchise almost a decade later — while controversial — has been extremely lucrative. Toy Story 4 exceeded US$1 billion in ticket sales.

Keeping the movies going has gotten more expensive, though. The fifth movie cost US$250 million to make, not including marketing. It returns a voice cast led by Tom Hanks (as Woody), Tim Allen (as Buzz Lightyear) and Joan Cusack (as Jessie). In the sequel, the toys are pushed aside when Bonnie gets a new tablet. Reviews have been very good, and audiences gave it an ‘A’ CinemaScore, suggesting it should remain a force in theatres for weeks.

On the not-so-bright side, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day slipped to second place with US$17 million in its second weekend. That’s not the hold that Universal Pictures was hoping for. Dropping 61 per cent from its first weekend suggests the film might not find the legs Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller needs to break out this summer. Still, the US$115 million budgeted movie, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colman Domingo, has grossed US$160.4 million globally in two weeks. It stands a good chance of remaining the top adult-oriented option in theatres in the coming weeks.

A24’s The Death of Robin Hood, a violent revisionist approach to the old legend, flopped with US$2.6 million on 1,762 screens. The film, starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Michael Sarnoski, was modestly budgeted at US$20 million. But after finding mixed reviews, audiences didn’t go for the movie, either. It earned a ‘C+’ CinemaScore.

Neon’s Leviticus came out just ahead of The Death of Robin Hood, with US$2.7 million from 1,076 theatres. Written and directed by Adrian Chiarella, the buzzy low-budget horror film is about two teen boys who meet at conversion therapy. It's a fine start for an indie with a small budget of $3.5 million and good word-of-mouth. 

The top horror choice remained Obsession, the microbudget phenomenon by 26-year-old Curry Barker. In its sixth weekend, it nearly equalled its US$17 million opening weekend from mid-May. The Focus Features release, which cost less than US$1 million to make, added $14.2 million to bring its domestic total to US$215.8 million and its global haul to US$333.3 million.

Figures from Rentrak show that the summer box office is up 15 per cent from the 2025 summer. More impressively, summer ticket sales are nearly equal to the 2019 summer at the same point, not accounting for inflation. The summer to date is just 1.9 per cent down from that year.

Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, expects that Hollywood is heading for its best summer since before the pandemic. And the success is coming from both expected and unexpected places.

“To me, this is a hybrid summer, and this could be the new blueprint for how you build the perfect summer box-office beast,” says Dergarabedian. “You throw in a mix of very eclectic films and not just the usual suspects — the big franchise films, the known brands — but also films like Backrooms and Obsession and original films like Disclosure Day.”