Universal Studios is unstoppable this year. Last week, the 2015 powerhouse crossed the global $3 billion mark thanks to the success of ‘Furious 7’, ‘Jurassic World’, ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. With the help of this weekend’s little yellow dominator, the studio is likely to cross $4 billion before too long.
Not only did those despicable little ‘Minions‘ take the top spot at the box office, they earned a better-than-expected $115.2 million. The spin-off became the second-highest all-time opening for an animated movie (behind the $121.6 million debut of ‘Shrek the Third’). Of course, that was thanks to the help of 3D ticket prices. In comparison, ‘Despicable Me‘ opened to $56.3 million in 2010 while ‘Despicable Me 2‘ opened to $83.5 million in 2013. Internationally, ‘Minions’ is killing it as well. With a week already under its belt, the spin-off sits with an international ten-day total of $280.5 million, giving it a worldwide total of $395.7 million. How can ‘Despicable Me 3’ (anticipated in 2017) ever live up to this?
The success of that movie didn’t affect the fifth-week numbers for ‘Jurassic World‘ much. Retaining the #2 spot, the fellow Universal picture slipped a mere 38% in attendance and added another $18.1 million to its wildly high $590.6 million domestic total. The fourth installment to the ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise now sits in the global all-time #5 spot with $1.46 billion and is just $46 million away from passing ‘Furious 7’ for the #4 spot.
‘Inside Out‘ took a hit from ‘Minions’, but not as much as you might expect. The Pixar flick dropped to the #3 spot, but was only down 42% in attendance, which isn’t bad at all considering that this was its fourth week on the big screen. The $17.1 million weekend brought its domestic total up to $283.6 million. Now into its international roll-out, the animated film has earned $151.8 million overseas, giving it a worldwide total of $435.4 million.
‘Terminator: Genisys‘ dropped from third to fourth place. Following a sub-par debut, its second week resulted in $13.7 million, giving it a not-so-impressive domestic 12-day total of $68.7 million. The fifth ‘Terminator’ chapter is performing better internationally, but not too much better. Its $156.1 million overseas earnings bring its worldwide total to $224.8 million.
Rounding out the Top 5 was New Line’s R-rated horror flick ‘The Gallows‘. While most micro-budget scary movies typically open strongly and quickly fade off, this one pulled in just $10 million on 2,720 screens. As low an opening as that is, it’s not as bad as that of our (pretty) big-name next release.
With poor reviews, Tarsem Singh’s ‘Self/less‘ had a lousy eighth place start. Despite starring Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds, the sci-fi action thriller kicked off on 2,353 screens and only picked up $5.3 million in the process.
A quiet film from India unexpectedly jumped into the Top 10. The nearly three-hour adventure picture ‘Baahubali: The Beginning‘ launched on 236 screens and hit the #9 spot with $3.5 million.
Robin Williams’ final on-screen performance didn’t draw many people out to its one-location showing. ‘Boulevard‘ only earned $7,000 over the weekend.
Top 10:
1. ‘Minions’ (Universal) – $115,200,000
2. ‘Jurassic World’ (Universal) – $18,100,000
3. ‘Inside Out’ (Buena Vista) – $17,108,000
4. ‘Terminator: Genisys’ (Paramount) – $13,700,000
5. ‘The Gallows’ (New Line) – $10,015,000
6. ‘Magic Mike XXL’ (Warner Bros.) – $9,640,000
7. ‘Ted 2’ (Universal) – $5,600,000
8. ‘Self/less’ (Focus) – $5,379,000
9. ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ (Blue Sky) – $3,575,000
10. ‘Max’ (Warner Bros.) – $3,420,000`
