Box Office: ‘Lightyear’ Launches With Solid $5.2 Million in Thursday Previews

variety.com:

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaDisney and Pixar’s “Lightyear” blasted off with a respectable $5.2 million in Thursday previews.The film, a spinoff of the “Toy Story” franchise, looks at the fictional astronaut character who was in a movie the inspired the Buzz Lightyear action figure who enchanted Andy and who later became BFFs with Woody (got that?).

But this Buzz Lightyear, much to Patricia Heaton’s rather evocative dismay, is voiced not by Tim Allen, whose dulcet pipes graced all four “Toy Story” flicks, but by the Star Command-ing cadences of one Chris Evans.“Lightyear” is expected to launch to between $70 million to $80 million and will screen in 4,200 North American theaters.

That should be a big enough number to secure first place at the box office, as well as all the attendant bragging rights that come with that perch.

However, “Lightyear” is landing in an unusually crowded weekend at the box office. Last weekend’s champion, Universal’s “Jurassic World Dominion,” which debuted to $145 million, should still be able to gobble up some ticket sales, and “Top Gun: Maverick” remains a potent box office force as it enters it fourth weekend of release. “Lightyear” carries a hefty $200 million production budget, so it needs to resonate with family crowds.