‘Lightyear’ Continues to Dip at The Box Office

Lightyear had another disappointing weekend at the box office. Fourth of July weekend is a massive week for moviegoing but families are choosing to Minions: The Rise of Gru, which is already breaking box office records.

Lightyear came in No. 6 in its third weekend at the box office with an estimated $6.6 million for the three days and $8.1 million for the four day holiday weekend. Through Sunday, the Pixar movie has earned $105.4 million domestically and $82.2 million overseas for a global total of $187.6 million.

The $187.6 million total means Lightyear is Pixar’s lowest grossing movies of all-time. 2015’s The Good Dinosaur brought in a worldwide total of $333 million. It should be noted that Onward did get a release in early 2020 but only stayed in theaters for a little over a week before being pulled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pixar’s next three releases following Onward — Soul, Luca, and Turning Red, all skipped theaters and were released exclusively on Disney+.

Read: ‘Lightyear’ Review: A Total Blast

It doesn’t get any easier for Lightyear as Minions is expected to do strong numbers moving forwards this Summer while kids are out of school. Also, Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters this weekend and is expected to be the Summer box office juggernaut with no real competition until July 29, when DC League of Super-Pets hits theaters.

This may be a sign to start moving Pixar films moving forward to Disney+. Despite no official data from the streamer, Disney’s animated films have been some of the most watched content on the platform, Encanto saw a massive boost in streams and led to a huge award seasons push. Luca, Soul, and Turning Red reportedly saw record watch hours. Lightyear making the move to Disney+ could see strong viewing numbers as well. I’m not saying this should be done for all animated movies. In Lightyear’s case it went up against Top Gun: Maverick, box office juggernaut, Jurassic World: Dominion, a franchise that continues to do solid numbers, and Minions, from the multi-billion dollar Despicable Me franchise.