Inside Out 2, the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2015 original, made us feel all the feelings when it debuted in June of this year. After earning more than $US1 billion at the box office, it’s officially the biggest movie of the year. Inside Out 2 faces the horrors of puberty with a host of new emotions such as Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment, and Anxiety. Although it’s still going strong in theaters, Inside Out 2 will be available for digital rental and purchase on August 20, 2024 through AppleTV+, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home. Though, we’ll have to wait until at least the end of September 2024 for Inside Out 2 to appear on Disney+. Pixar president Jim Morris told Bloomberg it won’t be available on the streaming service until it has completed its 100-day run in theaters.
If you’d like to own Inside Out 2 on physical media, it releases September 10, 2024 on 4K, Blu-Ray, and DVD. The 4K disc will also be available in a beautiful, limited edition Steelbook. One awesome advantage that physical media has over streaming purchases are the bonus features which include a documentary on all the new emotions, deleted scenes, alternate opening scene, and other behind-the-scenes looks. While the first Inside Out explored Riley’s struggles with sadness after moving, Inside Out 2 addresses more complicated emotions that invade Headquarters, the name for the switchboard that Joy, Sadness, Disgust, or any other feeling takes turns handling.
The biggest one is Anxiety, a frizzy-haired orange sprite exceptionally voiced by Maya Hawke (Stranger Things). Anxiety has some of the most relatable and emotional scenes in the movie, like when she moves so fast trying to control all her worries and what-ifs at the center console that she turns into an electric hurricane, but at the eye of the storm, she is frozen in fear. Anxiety also oversees a room that looks like an animation studio where workers draw a million different bad things that could happen. These scenes depict exactly what it feels like to have anxiety, and does so better than any psychology textbook ever could.
Anxiety has quickly become a ubiquitous part of popular culture, sparking hilarious memes from fans of Inside Out 2, like one showing her carrying multiple suitcases, with captions on each suitcase reflecting different stressors that affect people with anxiety. In response to someone saying “Just relax, there’s nothing to be anxious about,” Buzzfeed shared an image where each suitcase reads the following: “Childhood trauma, dying, making an appointment, that one thing in third grade,” and “Do I smell?” The meme is simple but says so much. Not only do people with anxiety tend to overpack in general (What if it rains? What if I didn’t pack enough? What if I get too cold?), but past, present, and future worries constantly weigh you down.
Adult TikTokers are also sharing clips of Disney princesses, joking that as children they dreamed of becoming as beautiful and elegant as Belle or Ariel, but instead they ended up like the small, perpetually jittery Anxiety with messy hair.
The widespread sharing of these memes, especially by older audiences, demonstrates the universal appeal of Inside Out 2—this isn’t just a kid’s movie, but one that manages to perfectly articulate an emotion that becomes harder and harder to deal with after middle school, particularly with new, adult responsibilities. Inside Out 2 strikes a chord with everyone, which is why it has become one of the biggest movies of all time and why we can’t wait to rewatch it when it’s released on home media.
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