Pixar's Hoppers scale
Pixar’s original Hoppers has now surpassed the $334M-plus global haul of The Wild Robot and sits at about $182.6M internationally by its fifth weekend, showing that non-franchise animation can still travel. That performance gives development committees a data point that strong original animation — if packaged well — can justify theatrical and global distribution investment. (koimoi.com)
Five weekends after opening on March 6, Disney and Pixar’s *Hoppers* had climbed to about $334.3 million worldwide, with roughly $182.6 million of that coming from markets outside the United States and Canada. That put it just ahead of DreamWorks’ *The Wild Robot*, which finished at about $334 million worldwide. (koimoi.com) (boxofficemojo.com) That is a notable result because *Hoppers* is not a sequel, remake, or spin-off. Disney’s official synopsis says the movie follows Mabel, a 19-year-old animal lover who uses new technology to place her consciousness into a robotic beaver so she can communicate with animals and protect their habitat. (movies.disney.com) (thewaltdisneycompany.com) Original animated movies usually start with a harder sales job than franchise films because audiences do not already know the characters, world, or hook. Pixar and Disney solved that by building the campaign around one very simple image: a human mind inside a beaver body, with trailers and official materials repeating the “hop” idea in plain language. (movies.disney.com) (video.disney.com) The overseas number is the part studio executives will stare at. By its fifth weekend, *Hoppers* had earned more money internationally than domestically, which is the pattern studios want when they spend heavily on worldwide theatrical releases. (koimoi.com) (boxofficemojo.com) That comparison with *The Wild Robot* is useful because DreamWorks’ film was also an original animated story rather than a branded sequel. When two different studios can get two different original animal-centered movies into the same global box office neighborhood, it weakens the idea that only familiar intellectual property can travel. (boxofficemojo.com 1) (boxofficemojo.com 2) Pixar’s own recent history makes the result sharper. The studio has spent the past few years leaning on proven names like *Inside Out 2* and *Toy Story 5*, but its official 2026 slate still included *Hoppers* as a theatrical original, which meant Disney was testing whether audiences would show up for a new idea from the brand alone. (thewaltdisneycompany.com) (pixar.com) The movie also arrived with a cast Disney could market across age groups, including Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Meryl Streep, and Dave Franco. That does not guarantee ticket sales, but it gives a family release more ways to get attention in trailers, press, and international dubbing campaigns. (movies.disney.com) (thewaltdisneycompany.com) By April 10, Box Office Mojo’s 2026 worldwide chart listed *Hoppers* at about $514.8 million, which shows the movie did not just edge past *The Wild Robot* and stop there. It kept legging out after opening weekend, and long theatrical runs are where family films can turn from “solid” into “worth repeating.” (boxofficemojo.com) For people inside greenlight meetings, the lesson is not “make any original cartoon.” The lesson is narrower: if an original animated movie has a one-line premise that travels, a release date Disney commits to, and enough audience appeal to hold for five weekends, it can still earn like a global theatrical event instead of a streaming placeholder. (movies.disney.com) (thewaltdisneycompany.com)
