The toys are back and ready to play.
Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 arrives in theaters this Friday, opening at more than 4,000 theaters that will be showing the movie in stereoscopic 3-D on more than 2,000 screens.
Expectations are high for the sequel. The first film in the series, 1995’s Toy Story, has grossed more than $361 million worldwide, while 1999’s Toy Story 2 earned more than $485 million around the globe.
Prognosticators are going as high as a $100 million opening weekend for the movie, which is directed by Lee Unkrich and once again features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack. That would be good news for the summer box office, which has seen several soft weekends so far.
So far the critics have been nearly unanimous in praising the film, which as of Thursday afternoon had a 100 rating on the aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com and an 87 on Metacritic.com.
For those looking for a bit more of an edge to their entertainment, there’s Jonah Hex. A supernatural Western based on the DC Comics series, the film stars Josh Brolin and Megan Fox and will open in an estimated 2,800 cinemas.
Additional competition will come from holdovers The Karate Kid, The A-Team and DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After.
