Pixar, the leading animation studio within Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS), has had an 18-year streak of No. 1 hits.
The company has produced a cornucopia of successful movies, starting with the original "Toy Story" in 1995. "Inside Out" is expected to be another winner, but its competition with "Jurassic World" could prevent Pixar from leading the box office this weekend.
"If 'Jurassic World' drops 60 percent [from last weekend], it'd be at $80-$81 million," Rentrak Corporation (NASDAQ: RENT) Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Benzinga. "If somehow it only drops 50 percent, it'll be at over $100 million."
In either case, "Inside Out" -- which is expected to earn $60 to $70 million -- would not be able to surpass Universal Studios' (a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA)) epic dinosaur film. Dergarabedian still thinks "Inside Out" will be very successful.
"You can relate to it on so many levels," he said. "It's just a spectacular film. It's gonna play to the long haul. It's gonna have long-term playability. It could end up being one of their biggest-grossing movies worldwide for Pixar."
Dergarabedian also noted that critics and analysts underestimated how "Jurassic World" would perform in theaters. The same could happen with "Inside Out."
"Never underestimate a Pixar movie," he said. "That's a mistake, especially for this one."
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No Bombs In Sight
Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, noted that Pixar has "never really had a bomb." With international distribution and other sources of profit, he said there is "almost no way they lose money" on any of the studio's films.
Niles Lawrence, president of stock analysis site Vuru, told Benzinga that "Inside Out" will be "another big one" for the studio.
"They've been on a roll for the past few movies, but I don't know that it'll be another one to break records or anything like that," he said.
It's Good To Be A Dinosaur
Dergarabedian expects Pixar's next flick, "The Good Dinosaur," to do good things for Disney's bottom line.
"Look at how hot dinosaurs are right now," he said. "'Jurassic World' could be helping Pixar down the road. 'The Good Dinosaur' looks like another winner. [Pixar's other movies] opened at number one and ['Inside Out] may be the one where that doesn't happen. But no matter -- since the '90s they have had a perfect track record."
Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.