Pixar’s next movie, Hoppers, drew comparisons to a mᴀssive franchise upfront, which can only help it at the box office come March 2026. Hoppers, described as “Avatar meets Mission: Impossible,” will follow Mabel, a girl who uses futuristic technology to “hop” her consciousness into a robotic beaver, to persuade other wildlife to protest the destruction of their home.

It sounds like a delightful family adventure that will touch upon themes of environmentalism and the nature of the food chain. The movie is directed by Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears), written by Jesse Andrews (Luca), and confirmed to star Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, and Jon Hamm. Yet Hoppers still faces an uphill battle.

Despite good reviews, Pixar’s most recent release, Elio, has been a box-office disappointment, struggling to find its footing as an original movie. While family-friendly movies have an advantage at the box office due to a wider potential audience, recent performances indicate that this works out best for sequels and remakes.

2025’s Lilo & Sтιтch and How to Train Your Dragon were both box office hits, while Pixar’s highest-grossing sequels illustrate how familiarity with characters and story is a mᴀssive boost. Despite Pixar’s struggles with original movies, they still have Hoppers and the recently announced Gatto coming up alongside Toy Story 5.

Pixar should be rethinking its marketing strategies to help its original movies succeed, though moviegoers need to be willing to take chances on new stories as well. However, Hoppers certainly could have been hindered by accusations of being a rip-off, but the director and trailer have hopefully sidestepped this by acknowledging it up front.

Hoppers Is Smart To Acknowledge The Avatar Comparison

Mabel Knows Right Away That This Is “Exactly Like Avatar”

During an interview with ScreenRant‘s Owen Danoff, Hoppers director Daniel Chong talked about the movie’s similarity to James Cameron‘s Avatar, which also features humans inhabiting bodies of another species, and revolves around a war for the preservation of the planet of Pandora. Check out an excerpt from this interview below:

SR: Was the Avatar comparison something that came up after the idea was first originated and was it something you kind of wanted to get ahead of, or was that kind of an inspiration from the get-go?

Chong: It was almost like a joke upfront. I think I used to call it “animal Avatar.” When I pitched it too, I did not think this was going to be the movie I was going to make. It was just a thing I threw out because, when you’re developing movies, you’re just throwing things at the wall. But I think Pete [Docter] and people in leadership saw the potential of this movie and they encouraged me to keep developing it.

Chong understands that this is a smart marketing strategy, as “[using] Avatar as a grounding point for the audience” is a clever way to get people to come to the movies in an increasingly difficult market for originals. Leveraging an ᴀssociation with a major IP could actually get people there, but the movie can then still stand on its own.

Hoppers’ trailer even features a joke where Mabel compares the technology that kicks off her adventure to Avatar. Chong, however, still ᴀssures potential audiences that they “found ways to actually make it something different,” thus this will still be a new story. Read his additional comments below:

But I think the joke is that it’s nothing like that. The movie will actually go into different places; it kind of becomes a bit of a spy thriller and there are a lot of Mission: Impossible things in it that we were inspired by. And there’s a really broad comedy aspect to it too. So, I think that there’s just going to be a lot of fun to be had there. But the Avatar thing was just a little grounding thing to start with.

He also sees that joking about the similarities was the best way to avoid criticism of the similarities. Now, drawing adults who might be fans of Avatar to theaters with their kids to see “family-friendly Avatar” or “animal Avatar” could more broadly revamp Pixar originals, setting the stage later for Gatto.

Many of Pixar’s best movies are still from the studio’s early days, and we are stuck in a loop of wanting new beloved classics from them and then often not being motivated to go see the movie at all. But Hoppers genuinely seems like a sweet, meaningful movie, and the subversive nature of its premise and marketing could turn it into a transformative hit.