Lightyear | Full Movie

Lightyear 2022 | Full Movie

Pixar, after seeing its movies sidelined to Disney+ during the pandemic, returns to the big screen this weekend with Lightyear, the origin story of the spaceman toy which little Andy plays with in the Toy Story movies.

Watch Now:: https://just-watch-now.com/movie/lightyear/

Watch Now:: https://just-watch-now.com/movie/lightyear/

Click To Watch Free 'Lightyear 2022' Full Movie Comps here are Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which is the biggest family movie to open during the pandemic with $72M stateside. In addition, since Lightyear is considered a spinoff, not a sequel to the Toy Story franchise, its projections are being held down by that classification.

Spinoff movies like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($74.4M) are numerically in their own box office subset, typically opening lower than direct IP sequels, so that’s what’s keeping Lightyear below a $100M U.S. start at this point in time. The last Toy Story, Toy Story 4, opened in June 2019 to $120.9M.

If Lightyear overperforms, like Universal/Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion did last weekend (beating its original projection by $20M with a $145M U.S./Canada start), it’s because of great word of mouth, thus triggering walk-up business. Current outlook for Lightyear in U.S. and Canada this weekend is $70M-$85M at 4,200 theaters.

Similar to previous Pixar summer launches, Disney is taking advantage of Father’s Day traffic on Sunday, plus there’s also a bonus moviegoing day in Juneteenth being celebrated on Monday. Boys and dads are, of course, are the hard core demo that Lightyear is banking on.

Overseas, Lightyear takes off in 43 material markets, representing 79% of the international footprint. Key markets to watch will be the UK and Mexico, both strong family hubs and both of which have been firing lately. The projected debut for all offshore markets this weekend is in the $50M+ range; all-in on the high end, $135M WW.

In terms of major market rollout, Lightyear blasts off in Italy and Korea today, followed by Germany, Brazil, Australia and Mexico on Thursday and the UK and Spain on Friday. France is not going until June 22 and Japan joins on July 1.

There is essentially a two-week gap for the movie in the family space (except for Australia) before Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru lands. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is also the comp for Lightyear abroad, which has legged fantastically since its March debut overseas. In like-for-likes, that Paramount title did about $39M at open. Likewise, having released during the Covid era and seen strong growth, Sing 2 came in around $33M in like-for-like starts.

Lightyear will not be be hitting cinemas in such Middle East markets as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Nor will it go to theaters in Malaysia or Indonesia. All owing to what is believed to be related to LGBTQ content.

Currently Lightyear is at 82% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is below the high 90%-100% threshold of Toy Story movies. Family movies can often shake off the Rotten Tomatoes stigma at the box office. In regards to presales, Lightyear had an advance ten-day frame whereas Sonic the Hedgehog was much longer.

As of Monday, Lightyear had racked up $4M in presales. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 earned an estimated $12M-$14M in presales the day before opening and the hope is that Lightyear arrives in that range by tomorrow.

Lightyear will be sharing 400 Imax screens in the U.S. with Jurassic World Dominion this weekend, but will absorb all of them in weekend 2. Other price premiums working to Lightyear‘s advantage is 850+ Premium Large Format screens, 2,200 3D locations, and 190 D-Box/4D motion screens. Select early preview showtimes start today at 6pm in 500 IMAX and PLF auditoriums with all other previews beginning Thursday at 3PM.

Jurassic World Dominion is expected to ease -58% in weekend 2 with around $61M. The sequel chalked up $14.8M yesterday, -19% off Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom‘s Tuesday. Dominion currently counts a running domestic total of $172.6M, -5% behind Fallen Kingdom.

The film is "is not licensed for public screening in all cinemas in the UAE, due to its violation of the country's media content standards," the UAE Media Regulatory Office tweeted Monday.

The agency said all films showed in the country are "subject to follow-up and evaluation before the date of screening to the public, to ensure the safety of the circulated content according to the appropriate age classification."

The film "is not licensed for public screening in all cinemas in the UAE, due to its violation of the country's media content standards," the office said in a tweet.

The film includes a same-sex kiss, although that scene was not explicitly listed as a reason for barring the screening of the film. The UAE, like other countries in the Middle East and Muslim-led nations around the world, criminalizes same-sex relationships.

According to Variety, "Lightyear" is expected to top the domestic box office in its opening weekend with between $70 and $80 million against a $200 million production budget. "Jurassic World Dominion" is expected to drop more than 50% in its second weekend, with a haul in the $65 million department, which clears the path for Disney and Pixar to win the day.

Overall, the film is looking at a global launch of $135 million, which would put it well on the path to becoming a big hit, a respectable return to moviegoers for the ever-reliable Disey brand. However, it is also worth pointing out that "Lightyear" has been banned in certain countries due to a same-sex kiss, which could make overall numbers lower.

During the pandemic, "Onward" had its theatrical run cut very short, and that put Pixar on an odd run. One of the most reliable brands in box office history saw three original films in "Soul," "Luca," and "Turning Red," all of which were praised by critics, head straight to Disney+. Now, a franchise-branded film will be saddled with the weight of big expectations.

Pixar's history of big opening weekends. Given that this film is bringing Pixar back to theaters, it is worth going over some of the biggest debuts in the studio's history at the box office and how "Lightyear" might stack up. The biggest of the big came in 2018 with "Incredibles 2," which opened to a stellar $182 million, by far a record for an animated release, Disney or otherwise. Behind that, in a fairly distant second is 2016's "Finding Dory," which opened to $135 million. Coming in third was "Toy Story 4" in 2019 with $120 million.

To find a more direct comparison, we can look to 2013's "Monsters University," which opened to $82 million, or perhaps "Incredibles," which nabbed $70 million back in 2004. The big thing to remember when it comes to director Angus MacLane's "Lightyear" is that it is a spin-off, not a sequel.

So it shouldn't be expected to do "Toy Story 3" numbers ($110 million). But when we look at something like "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," a "Harry Potter" spin-off that debuted to $74 million in 2016, the projections for "Lightyear" begin to make a bit more sense.

Context is helpful but it's important to remember that the Disney+ releases may have had an impact on the way moviegoers view Pixar now. Do they still see this as must-see-in-theaters entertainment? Not to mention that the pandemic did temper expectations in general. All of this to say, $80 million would be a damn fine start for Pixar's latest. Not everything needs to shatter records.

"Lightyear is a treat," said The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, "a time-travelling, space-ranging, animated adventure in the spirit of classic sci-fi.

"It might not precisely be up there with the very creamiest of the Pixar crop but it reminds you why we loved Pixar in the first place: wit, fun, storytelling and heart."

But the Telegraph's Robbie Collin felt the opposite, awarding Lightyear just one star and describing it as a "screaming threadbare brand extension exercise".

"The problem with Pixar's latest feature isn't just that it's the animation house's dullest, dreariest, most spiritually empty to date. It's that it fails even on its own painstakingly contrived open-goal terms."

Jake Coyle of the Associated Press agreed, describing Lightyear as "a dead-end wrong turn in the usually boundless Pixar universe".

"There is a bland, vaguely [Cars spin-off] 'Planes' feeling here that smacks of a straight-to-video spin-off," he said. "Buzz, himself, is a bit of a bore, too."

In a three-star review, Empire's Sophie Butcher said: "There's certainly some enjoyment to be had here, but the film is weighed down by genericness and loyalty to the existing IP."

Butcher said she felt the film "comes up short against fully original, specific-yet-universal Pixar output like Turning Red, Coco or Inside Out.

"Though the underlying themes of teamwork, family and leadership are nicely played, they're also fairly surface-level - never quite reaching the heights of infinity, nor beyond."

Kevin Maher of the Times said Lightyear was "firmly in the shadow of Toy Story", and also awarded it three stars.

"It's a generic sci-fi spin-off, with the space ranger protagonist Buzz Lightyear now voiced by Captain America himself, Chris Evans, with none of the sly self-awareness that the original star Tim Allen brought to the gig," he wrote.

Awarding the film two stars, Nicholas Barber of BBC Culture said he felt the script was weaker than some of the animation studio's other films.

"Bear in mind that this is a Pixar film, so of course the animation is hard to fault, and of course it has some ambitious philosophical concepts," he wrote. "But considering how proud the studio is of its engaging characters and machine-tooled storytelling, it's amazing that Lightyear has such an obviously sloppy screenplay.

"The story is thin, repetitive, and almost entirely dependent on the heroes being clumsy."

Variety's Owen Glieberman said Lightyear was "diverting enough, but doesn't give you a Buzz".

But there was a warmer reaction Deadline's Valery Complex, who wrote: "The animation is gorgeous and hyper-realistic. Children will go nuts for this expansive three-dimensional world featuring one of the most beloved and well-known Disney heroes."

According to the Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney, the "textured visuals are often breathtaking, pulsing with luminous colour, and the detailed character work is delightful, matched by strong contributions from the voice actors".

So far, Lightyear has been banned from cinemas in 14 countries including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

The censorship is thought to be because the film contains a same-sex kiss between two supporting characters, but not every country has explicitly confirmed that is the reason.

The UAE's Media Regulatory Office said only that the film was in "violation of the country's media content standards".

In Singapore, the film was given an NC16 rating - meaning viewers must be aged 16 or over to view it - due to "overt homosexual depictions".

In the UK, the film is released on Friday, and is the latest in a long line of summer blockbusters including Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World Dominion and Elvis.

Concluding his review, Bradshaw said: "Now surely we need Pixar to give us a heart-rending Revolutionary-Road-style drama about the early married life of Mr and Mrs Potato Head."