Pixar's Hoppers Opens March 6 With Meryl Streep

Pixar's New Original Bets Big on Talking to Animals

Pixar Animation Studios kicks off 2026's animated blockbuster season with Hoppers, opening in theaters worldwide on March 6. Directed by Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears) and written by Jesse Andrews, the film arrives with some of the studio's strongest pre-release reviews in nearly a decade — and a pitch that is, by any measure, gloriously strange.

The Premise: Consciousness, Beavers, and an Animal Council

Set in the fictional city of Beaverton, Hoppers follows Mabel Tanaka, a 19-year-old environmental activist battling a city mayor's plan to bulldoze a beloved forest glade and replace it with a freeway. Her unlikely weapon: a cutting-edge scientific device that transfers human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals, allowing people to experience and communicate with the natural world from the inside out.

When Mabel illegally hops into a robotic beaver, she inadvertently sets off an uprising among the animal kingdom — presided over by an all-powerful Animal Council led by the Insect Queen, a monarch butterfly voiced with imperious glee by Meryl Streep. Critics at Variety described Streep's performance as playing the role "as if she were a bug Miranda Priestly" — a comparison that practically sells the film on its own.

A Star-Studded Voice Cast

Alongside Streep, the ensemble features Piper Curda as Mabel, Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan, and Kathy Najimy. The score is composed by Mark Mothersbaugh — his first full Pixar feature — while Grammy-winning artist SZA contributes an original end-credits song, "Save the Day," released ahead of the film on February 20.

Critics Call It Pixar's Best in Years

Hoppers premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on February 23, and early reviews have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. The film holds a 97% Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 77 on Metacritic, making it the studio's best-reviewed film since Coco in 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Variety called it "top-drawer Pixar" — not quite on the level of Inside Out or the Toy Story films, but "a reminder that when the studio is firing on all cylinders, it can take you someplace you've never imagined." The Boston Globe was more measured, noting the film doesn't quite reach Pixar's all-time peaks, but conceded its considerable charm.

Box Office: The First Big Test of 2026

Industry analysts at Deadline project Hoppers will open to approximately $36–38 million domestically across 4,000 theaters, with an additional $45–50 million internationally — for a projected $88 million worldwide debut. That would make it the best opening weekend for an original Pixar film since Coco's debut nearly a decade ago, a significant milestone after a string of sequels.

The film opens opposite Universal's The Bride!, but analysts expect Hoppers to dominate. As the first major animated release of the year, its performance will be closely watched as a bellwether for the health of theatrical animation in 2026.

Awards Season Eyes

With its critical standing and a socially resonant theme — humanity's disconnection from the natural world — Hoppers is already being discussed as a leading contender for the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 2027 Academy Awards. For a studio that has not won the category since Soul in 2021, a return to the top of the awards conversation would be more than welcome.