Opening Weekend Forecast: £2.5M – £3.5M
Theatrical Total Forecast: £12M
Animated sports comedy GOAT will benefit from its status as the first tentpole family animation of 2026, with a prime release date that coincides with the February half-term holidays. Last year’s half-term release Dog Man successful woofed up £14 million in the same window.
Admittedly, Dog Man had the benefit of being familiar IP (it was a spin-off from the Captain Underpants movie), and original animation has proven hit-or-miss at the box office. Pixar’s last big summer release Elio, for example achieved a modest £5.3 million. However, Sony Pictures Animation has been on a hot streak lately with its two Spider-Verse films, grossing £10.8 million and a whopping £31 million in 2018 and 2023, respectively. They also had the breakout hit of last year in K-Pop Demon Hunters, which they produced. While the film was a Netflix release it was given a very successful (if belated) cinema run, the box office totals of which Netflix has not officially disclosed.
GOAT also benefits from the involvement of NBA legend Steph Curry. The Golden State Warriors player is a voice actor and producer on the film, and his star-power and role model status to many young children will help mobilise audiences. Basketball players lending their status to cinematic outings has proved very fruitful in the past, including in 2021’s legacy sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring LeBron James, which brought in £12.9 million at the U.K./Ireland box office.
Animal-led family animation has been particularly successful recently, with films including the aforementioned Dog Man (£14 million), Disney’s Zootopia 2 (£32.7 million), and Universal’s The Bad Guys 2 (£14.7 million) connecting with audiences, with The Bad Guys 2 becoming the highest-grossing animated film of last summer. It’s clearly a niche that family audiences are hungry for, and GOAT looks set to satisfy their appetite.
Comparators: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Bad Guys 2, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Dog Man
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