Tavern Talk: Video Review - ONWARD

Disney and Pixar's Onward topped the weekend box office, but fell shy of expectations with $39.1 million. For Pixar, this is on the low end of expectations as many went into the weekend expecting the film to gross as much as $50 million. In terms of inflation, this is the lowest domestic Fri-Sun launch ever for a Pixar film. Sure, there is plenty of opportunity in the near future for Onward as many schools will be on spring break over the next few weeks and given opening weekend audiences gave the film an "A-" CinemaScore and a 96% audience score on RottenTomatoes with critics also favoring the film and no sign of any other broad, children's entertainment entering the picture until Trolls: World Tour on April 10th, there's definitely room for Dan Scanlon's film to spread its wings. Still, even if Onward has legs that get it to $150 million domestic which seems somewhat reasonable at this time of year and given that opening weekend number this would still only place it as the second-lowest Pixar flick between The Good Dinosaur ($123 million domestic in 2015) and Cars 3 ($153 million from a $53 million debut in 2017). Internationally, Onward grossed an estimated $28 million for a $70 million worldwide cume from forty-seven territories, with several major markets (including China) where it has yet to open. On TAVERN TALK this week we were lucky enough to have DJ Kramer from the Doug Kramer Live! show who also happens to be a pretty big Disney guy give us his initial reaction (wink, wink) on the film which you can of course check out after the jump below, but other films we've recently reviewed fared better in holdover news at the box office and I'd like to touch on a few of those titles as well. Beginning with The Invisible Man, the Leigh Whannell-directed horror re-imagining ended its second weekend with $15.1 million for only a 47% drop and a $53 million domestic pull along with a $98 million worldwide total on what was only a reported budget of $7-$9 million. Though its run may be over sooner than later given A Quiet Place Part II opens next week, it's likely the film could end its domestic run at around $81 million, or what Tom Cruise’s The Mummy did three years ago on a $125 million budget. Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog earned another $8 million in its fourth weekend currently giving it a $141 million domestic cume with $154 million overseas and a current global total of almost $296 million. And finally, The Call of the Wild rounded out the top five box office spots as the Harrison Ford-starrer finished its third weekend with $6.8 million for a domestic cume that now tops $57 million while internationally, the film added another $4.8 million for an overseas total of $42 million and a global tally just shy of $100 million. As always, be sure to follow the official TAVERN TALK by Initial Reaction YouTube channel as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find a new review (or reviews) each week!