How Does CARS 3's Domestic Debut of $54M Compare to Pixar Sequels?

Over Father's Day Weekend, Pixar's latest feature film, Cars 3, debuted to a slow-but-steady $54 Million. The International debut total reached $75 Million. Was the low box office due to poor word-of-mouth or Cars/sequel fatigue? Check out how the Cars 3 debut compares with the previous Cars films and Pixar sequels after the break!

CARS 3 Domestic Debut Compared to CARS Franchise:

Box Office Mojo:
Cars (2006): $60 Million
Cars 2 (2011): $66 Million
​Cars 3 (2017): $54 Million

CARS 3 Debut Compared to Pixar Sequels:

Box Office Mojo:
Toy Story 2 (1999): $300,163
Toy Story 3 (2010): $110 Million
Cars 2 (2011): $66 Million
Monsters University (2013): $82.4 Million
Finding Dory (2016): $135 Million
Cars 3 (2017): $54 Million

As you can tell from the domestic debuts from both all three of the Cars franchise films and previous Pixar sequels, the Cars 3 debut this past weekend was the lowest in Pixar's recent Cars and sequel history (excluding Toy Story 2). The first Cars film made $6 Million more in its opening weekend debut than the latest entry. Further, the debuts for Toy Story 3 and Finding Dory are both more than twice as much as the debut for Cars 3.

Jackson Storm and Lightning McQueen in Cars 3. Photo Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

What does the low debut for CARS 3 mean?

Although the answer is never so cut-and-dry, the low audience turnout for Cars 3 most likely means that audiences are not as interested in revisiting the Cars world as they are in revisiting the worlds of Toy Story, Monsters, or Finding Nemo/Dory. And although untested, the long-awaited and much-anticipated release of The Incredibles 2 next summer looks to deliver on-par with the largest Pixar openings with Toy Story 3 and Finding Dory because of the fan anticipation, nostalgia, and current super-hero movie renaissance.

Could the low debut total for Cars 3 finally put the nail in the coffin for the Cars franchise? Probably not. But perhaps instead of producing a multimillion dollar movie, Disney and Pixar could take the Cars franchise to the small screen in the form of a Disney Junior or Disney XD television show. A television show would keep the spirit of the franchise alive, allowing for the billion dollar merchandising machine to continue making profit while enabling Pixar to focus on producing feature films that audiences are actually interested in seeing. 

CARS 3 is now playing in theaters!