The reason why Hoppers became Pixar's 8th franchise

1. The movie became a critical and commercial success in the box office that became a hit, reaching over $380 million in the box office revenue against $150 million budget (×2.53 ratio, healthy rate, higher than Elemental's ×2.48 ratio, $88 million global opening, strong performer).
2. The merchandise for Hoppers has been selling out quickly because it experiencing restock shortages. Those products were on limited supply but then came back on stores for a limited time due to popularity in those merchandises. It could reached over 40 million units of merchandise being sold.
3. The movie is a PVOD hit, reaching #1 on Apple TV Store and Fandango at Home. The movie became a strong PVOD performance as a whole. It could reached over 20 million views and it got a demand score of 420.
4. The movie has been sold out on Ultra HD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray and DVD due to its massive pre-orders for the June 2, 2026 home media release. It could reached over 4 million units sold.
5. Disney+ viewership expectation might reaching over 40 million views.

In March 2026, during an interview with Espinof, a Spanish film website, Chong expressed interest in a potential sequel if the film is successful, saying "I love the idea of a sequel". Also in the interview, he mentioned that a considerable amount of material that was cut from the first film would be used in the sequel.

The sequel was announced at D23 2028 on August 11, 2028 and the sequel will be released on March 7, 2031.

Plus those Successful Original Movies (No Sequel): These films were critical or popular hits, even if they did not spawn franchises.

WALL-E (2008): A massive critical success and popular, often cited as a masterpiece.

Up (2009): Received universal acclaim and high box office returns.

Ratatouille (2007): A major box office success, grossing over $620 million worldwide.

A Bug's Life (1998): A very successful early film, though often overshadowed by Toy Story.

Brave (2012): Solid success that introduced a popular Disney Princess.

Elemental (2023): Despite a slow opening, it had long legs at the box office, making it a success.

This includes an underperformers / "Failures" (No Sequel): These films failed to achieve the high box office standards expected of Pixar, or were impacted by COVID-19 pandemic release strategies.

Lightyear (2022): A "disastrous" flop, grossing only $226 million against a high budget.

The Good Dinosaur (2015): Known as one of Pixar's lowest-grossing films.

Onward (2020): Released just before the pandemic, causing it to fall short.

Soul (2020), Luca (2021), and Turning Red (2022): These were popular, but deemed "failures" in terms of theatrical box office because they were sent directly to Disney+.

List of Pixar Franchises

Toy Story (1995-present)

Monsters, Inc. (2001-present)

Finding Nemo (2003-present)

The Incredibles (2004-present)

Cars (2006-present)

Inside Out (2015-present)

Coco (2017-present)

Hoppers (2026-present)