Toy Story 4 eyes stellar opening after 2nd biggest preview night for an animated film

Toy Story 4 is set to finally liven up a truly dreary summer at the box office.

Disney's animated sequel is headed toward an opening weekend of around $150 million, Deadline reports. It snagged $12 million in Thursday night previews, the second-best preview night ever for an animated film behind only Pixar's own Incredibles 2 at $18.5 million.

Based on that Thursday number, it seems Toy Story 4 will likely fall short of achieving the biggest opening weekend for an animated movie, a record Incredibles 2 set last summer with its massive $182 million haul. Some analysts had previously predicted Toy Story 4 could go beyond that with an opening as high as $200 million.

Still, a debut closer to the $150 million range would be nothing to sneeze at; the film's set to have third biggest opening weekend of the year behind two other Disney films: Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel. Toy Story 3 previously opened to $110 million in 2010.

Toy Story 4 comes at just the right time: after three brutal weeks in a row of major franchise films underperforming at the box office. First there was Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which had a big drop-off from its predecessor, followed by Dark Phoenix, which bombed horribly with a weak $32 million start. Most recently, Men in Black: International opened to just $30 million, becoming the first movie in the franchise to open with less than $50 million. It seemed studios other than Disney were having no luck getting these sequels to stick with audiences, although it didn't help that all three of the aforementioned movies received either mixed or outright terrible reviews.

Toy Story 4, on the other hand, has garnered an excellent 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, continuing the franchise's winning streak and proving once again that Disney will always have a friend in Pixar.