However, there’s a glimmer of hope with “Hoppers,” a new original Pixar creation that achieved a remarkable $46 million at the box office during its debut weekend. This marked the studio’s most successful opening for an original film since “Coco” in 2017. “Hoppers” outperformed “Elio” by 130% and surpassed “Elemental’s” $29.5 million June 2023 debut by roughly 56%. This triumph for original animations suggests a positive trend for the theatrical market. But what led “Hoppers,” with its beaver-themed humor, to surpass expectations?

The film’s success can be attributed to various factors, including its charming animal characters, a marketing strategy laser-focused on humor, and the delightful presence of a viral little lizard. The success story of “Hoppers” highlights not only the effectiveness of its promotional efforts but also confirms that original animated films still hold significant box office potential in the 2020s.

While “Lightyear” emphasized explosions and adult characters, and “Elemental” explored elements like water and fire with human traits, “Elio” ventured into sci-fi territory with human and alien figures. In contrast, “Hoppers” gained an advantage by featuring lovable beavers and various forest creatures. Although animation can depict a wide array of characters, animated family hits often feature amusing animal protagonists.

Unlike “Elio,” which centered on distant alien worlds, “Hoppers” capitalized on familiar, furry characters reminiscent of Daniel Chong’s previous work, “We Bare Bears” from Cartoon Network. The success of huggable animal figures, which have proven popular as plush toys, worked wonders for “Hoppers.” Perhaps “Lightyear” might have fared better with a cast of beavers and lizards.

The cuddly leads of “Madagascar,” “The Secret Life of Pets,” and “Zootopia” have proven that instantly endearing critters are leads that audiences anywhere can latch onto. Thus, “Hoppers,” which didn’t have a pre-existing brand name to fall back on, could channel past crowdpleasers while getting audiences invested in its kooky central premise. Plus, playing on universal connections to the forest and woodland animals made “Hoppers” relevant to people’s everyday lives.

Compare that to “Elio ” and its focus on heightened aliens far removed from any semblance of reality. The furry stars of “Hoppers” even echoed the trio of ursine leads from director Daniel Chong’s last project, the beloved Cartoon Network show “We Bare Bears.” Huggable animal characters ready to be turned into stuffed toys worked like gangbusters for Chong before, and did so again for “Hoppers.” Perhaps “Lightyear” should’ve starred a bunch of beavers and lizards instead.

To act like the last six years of Pixar movies have been “universally despised” is both a gross oversimplification and flat-out wrong. Movies like “Soul” and “Turning Red” are some of the most acclaimed titles from the studio. However, this era has some more divisive features. Among the five worst Pixar movies on Letterboxd is 2022’s “Lightyear,” while “Elemental” scored initially mixed notices after its Cannes 2023 premiere. 2025’s “Elio,” meanwhile, got fine but not outstanding notices from critics.

In sharp contrast, “Hoppers” was hailed as Pixar’s wildest comedy in years. The terrific critical reception to “Hoppers” undoubtedly helped get some skeptical moviegoers to fork over their cash. Reviews emphasized the film working well for adults as well as for family audiences, further helping bolster its box office potential. 

Whereas “Elemental” had to work overtime to overcome an initially “meh” reception, “Hoppers” had the advantage of immense praise amplifying its already superb box office momentum. The euphoric critical reception that Pixar titles used to receive was a superb aid for “Hoppers.” The only downside is realizing how “Soul” and “Turning Red’s” respective great reviews could’ve helped if they’d received traditional theatrical runs.

In 2021, as movie theaters were beginning to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic shut them down, concern began sprouting up about theatrical family movies. With studios sending films like “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” and “Luca” to streaming, there was worry that big screen family films would go the way of the dodo. 2022 smash hits like “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru” obliterated those worries. In fact, in 2024 and 2025, PG-rated family features absolutely dominated the box office, as seen by domestic box office champs “Zootopia 2” and “Inside Out 2.” 

“Hoppers” was the latest beneficiary of this phenomenon. While Disney often had a rough time at the box office in 2025, its Thanksgiving 2025 juggernaut “Zootopia 2” got the “Hoppers” trailer in front of a lot of eyeballs. Subsequent animated hits like “David” and “Goat” further amplified how aware audiences were of “Hoppers’” imminent arrival. Compare this to “Encanto” in late 2021, which didn’t have a slew of theatrical-exclusive animated movies in the months leading up to its debut, diluting its chances for direct marketing and inevitably led to an underwhelming weekend. 

“Hoppers,” meanwhile, undoubtedly benefited from a cinematic landscape where families rule. The rising tide of lucrative animated family films took “Hoppers” to some impressive box office heights.

The best comedy movies of all time have often drawn in families, as seen by the massive success of the “Minions,” “Zootopia,” and “Shrek” movies. “Hoppers” similarly thrived by leaning into laughs. The primary “Hoppers” trailer, for instance, was a hyperactive blast of outsized gags involving emojis and surprisingly violent cuddly animals.

The main “Hoppers” poster, meanwhile, centered on the amusing image of a cuddly beaver being caught in the jaws of a bear. The beaver’s joyful yet slightly worried expression (combined with the warm yellow background) emphasized that “Hoppers” was deeply silly. This aesthetic was kept throughout the marketing campaign, including the final pre-release TV spots that hammered home quotes from critics about how hilarious and enjoyable “Hoppers” was. Every step of the way, “Hoppers” prioritized comedy.

While “Elio’s” marketing made the mistake of harping on audiences for not showing up to original films in theaters, “Hoppers” was preceded by an amusing ad campaign full of bright colors and memorable punchlines. In other words, it looked like a good time at the movies. Audiences then came out in droves on opening weekend, further reinforcing the allure of comedies for the family market.

Folks who sat through the credits of Pixar’s “Elio” saw an unexpected tease of “Hoppers.” This post-credit scene solely consisted of “Hoppers” supporting character Tom Lizard (Tom Law) tapping away at emojis on a phone, while the device read “lizard” aloud multiple times. At the time, it seemed like a silly little nugget destined for obscurity given how badly “Elio” bombed.

It didn’t take long, though, for this footage to take off on TikTok. Before a proper teaser for “Hoppers” had even dropped, one of its characters was already a viral sensation. While the sidekicks are often the best part of Disney movies, Tom Lizard’s pre-release ascent into meme icon was a fascinating, unexpected phenomenon. It also gave Disney an endearing face to center much of the “Hoppers” marketing around. A costumed version of Tom Lizard showed up at major sports events, morning news shows, IMAX’s headquarters, and even clutched a sign asking if anyone had seen “Hoppers” star Jon Hamm.

The organic and immense popularity of the “lizard, lizard, lizard” meme gave the “Hoppers” promotional campaign a beloved character to build off of. To boot, the incredibly positive buzz surrounding “Hoppers” meant that audiences liked the larger movie Tom Lizard inhabited. Pixar got the best of both worlds, benefiting from a viral supporting character while making sure that same scaly figure didn’t overshadow “Hoppers.”