Disney-Pixar’s homage to Latino culture Coco is smashing box office records in Mexico. In order to coincide with Día de Muertos, the holiday that inspired the gorgeously animated film, it opened in theaters there one month before hitting US cinemas. After three weeks, Coco not only received glowing reviews from critics and audiences but also raked in $41.4 million. That number officially makes it the most successful animated movie in Mexico’s history. It dethroned another Pixar release Toy Story 3 which held the record since 2010. According to Box Office Mojo, Toy Story 3 ended up with $743 million Mexican pesos in ticket sales after 15 weeks. Coco has already hit $792 million pesos. Lee Unkrich, who directed both films celebrated the news on Twitter.
Its status as a runaway success is no doubt due, in part, to its stellar cast for the Latin American Spanish dub of the film. Led by legendary singer of Los Bukis Marco Antonio Solis as Ernesto de la Cruz (played by Benjamin Bratt in the English version) and Gael García Bernal who lends his voice to both the English and Spanish movies, the talent oozes out of every character. Additional cast members of the Latin American dub include: Elena Poniatowska, César Costa, Alfonso Arau, Cecilia Suárez, Ana de la Reguera, Fernanda Tapia, Héctor Bonilla, and Víctor Trujillo among others.
UPDATE 11/16/2017: On Wednesday, Coco broke another box office record in Mexico. It is now the highest-grossing film of all time (animated or live action) after its receipts surpassed $827 million pesos ($43.1 million USD). The record was previously held by The Avengers. According to Cine Premiere, it also is the movie with the most amount of tickets sold in the country’s history. It has been the #1 movie in Mexico since its opening on October 27, 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDMnP_fcShQ
Coco is currently playing in Mexico and opens in US theaters on November 22.