Disney-Pixar’s Lightyear fell below even the lowest estimates with a $51 million three-day finish in its debut weekend at the box office. The film was expected to pick up at least $70 million going into its opening weekend, with the higher end of projections going as high as $80 million. The $51 million debut puts it in the same range as Pixar’s original films – Coco and Ratatouille –and is by far the lowest opening of the Toy Story franchise.

A spinoff focusing on the fan-favorite character Buzz Lightyear’s origins, the film can still leg it to $200 million domestic – going by the performances of films like Coco and Ratatouille – but the sub-par reviews, pointless controversies, and the looming threat of Minions might prove to be obstacles in its flightpath to infinity and beyond. By comparison, Toy Story 4 made nearly $121 million in its opening weekend in 2019, and finished its global run, like Toy Story 3, with over $1 billion worldwide.

Disney would’ve certainly hoped for a better start; the $200 million Lightyear marked Pixar’s return to the big screens after over two years. The animation studio’s last three features—Soul, Luca and Turning Red—were all controversially released on the Disney+ streaming platform. So what went wrong?

Buzz and Sox in Lightyear
Image via Disney

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The franchise-worst reviews certainly didn’t help. But more pertinently, it was the sustained success of two holdover hits that could’ve eaten into Lightyear’s audience. Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion fell by 60% in its second weekend, but still claimed the number one spot with $58.6 million, taking its running domestic total to $259 million. Worldwide, the film has crossed the $600 million, defying poor reviews and franchise fatigue.

Stunningly, Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick collected another $44 million, taking its running domestic total to $473 million. Domestically, it’s the highest-grossing film of the year so far and is on the verge of crossing the $900 million mark worldwide. Maverick is by far the biggest film of star Tom Cruise’s long and storied career. Significantly, only two films have made more than $50 million in their fourth weekends: James Cameron’s Avatar and Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper, but the latter was coming off a limited release. Impressively, Maverick’s fourth-weekend haul is bigger than those of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Panther, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Avengers: Endgame.

Speaking of Marvel hits, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is still in play, despite being on the cusp of a Disney+ debut. The superhero sequel picked up $4.2 million in its seventh weekend, taking its running domestic total to $405 million. It’s the year’s highest-grossing film worldwide, with over $940 million in the bank, but is all but guaranteed to be overtaken by Maverick. Two animated titles – The Bob's Burgers Movie and The Bad Guys – were in a neck-and-neck race for the fifth spot, with the former coming out on top by a minor margin. With an estimated $1.18 million in its fourth weekend, the film's running domestic total now stands at $30 million.

Next weekend will see the release of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic and Blumhouse's buzzy horror title The Black Phone. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.