Pixar will celebrate the opening of Hoppers, which is on its way to first-place finish at the weekend with an opening of $40 million or more domestically. That would deliver the biggest launch for any Hollywood animated original film since 2017’s Coco, also from the Disney-owned studio.

Hoppers expects a worldwide start of $85 million or more, a strong number for Pixar and its parent company. As of Saturday, Hoppers‘ critics score on RT was 94, the same as the audience score.

It also boasts an A CinemaScore and a perfect five-out-of-five stars on PostTrak exits. Audience reactions from early screenings have been similar, with moviegoers applauding the film’s creativity and humor.

In the comedy-adventure, animal lover Mabel (Piper Curda) seizes an opportunity to use a new technology to “hop” her consciousness into a life-like robotic beaver and communicate directly with animals. As she uncovers mysteries beyond anything she could have imagined, Mabel befriends a charismatic beaver named King George (Bobby Moynihan), and must rally the entire animal kingdom to face a major, imminent human threat: smooth-talking local mayor Jerry Generazzo (Hamm).

The ensemble voice cast also features Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Meryl Streep, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Steve Purcell, Ego Nwodim, Nichole Sakura, Karen Huie and Vanessa Bayer.

Hoppers is directed by Daniel Chong, with Nicole Paradis Grindle producing and Mark Mothersbaugh providing the original score. It earned $13.4 million on Friday, including previews.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! earned just $3 million Friday, including $1 million in previews, after getting panned by both audiences and critics.

Warners is still hoping for an opening in the $8 million range, but rivals show it opening to as low as $7 million for a third-place finish behind Scream 7, which could fall as much as 70 percent to 74 percent in its second weekend (that’s not unexpected).

Heading into the weekend, the studio was forecasting $16 million to $18 million for The Bride!, which marks the end of a remarkable, year-long winning streak for studio heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who are committed to taking bold, original swings.

At the March 15 Oscar ceremony, they have two films in the best-picture race, Sinners and One Battle After Another.

The R-rated, gothic romance made headlines when directir Maggie Gyllenhaal said that she was asked by Warners movie studio chiefs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca to remove some of the film’s more violent scenes (she also gave a shout out to Abdy for “understanding me”).

Starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, The Bride! draws inspiration from the 1935 classic film The Bride of Frankenstein.

It is Gyllenhaal’s second directorial outing after the award-winning indie drama The Lost Daughter, starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. All three women were nominated for awards by various orgs, including Oscars noms for best adapted screenplay (Gyllenhaal), best actress (Colman) and best supporting actress (Buckley). This year, Buckley is nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her performance in Hamnet.