Everyone already was expecting this to be huge. And Minions has further solidified the Despicable Me franchise as the animated movie series to beat now. The spin-off/prequel ended up ahead of most expectations with an absolutely huge $115.2 million, for a per-venue average of a fantastic $26,784 from Universal's widest release ever (4,301 locations, the widest release of the year and 13th-biggest ever). That was the second-largest 3-day debut for an animated film, behind only Shrek the Third ($121.6 million), and continues distributor Universal's white-hot year. In addition to that, Minions claims the largest opening day ever for an animated film. In comparison, Despicable Me 2 earned $143 million in its first five days during the 4th of July holiday 2 years ago ($84 million over the weekend). It also essentially doubled the first Despicable Me's $56 million 3-day debut from this same weekend 5 years ago. This massive debut speaks to the massive popularity of these characters, and that (aside from Inside Out), there hasn't been anything real appealing for kids this summer. Analysts were expecting $85 million at first, before upping their projections to more than $100 million within a couple of weeks of release.Overseas, Minions earned another massive $124 million on top of $125 million already earned prior to its domestic release. It broke many overseas animation records in the process, and continues to outpace Despicable Me 2, which topped out with $975 million worldwide. With $395 million already earned worldwide, Minions seems like its on its way to topping the $1 billion mark. If it succeeds, it will be the third Universal title to do so this year (prior to 2015, Universal had never had a movie that had passed $1 billion worldwide).
As for long-term prospects, Minions earned an "A" CinemaScore from audiences, despite middling reviews (54% on Rotten Tomatoes). Competition isn't a lot, though Marvel's Ant-Man and Sony's Pixels may take away some older kids and teens in the next couple of weeks. However, even if it ends up as front-loaded as Shrek the Third, it will still end up above $300 million domestically. While its a little early to tell, there's a fairly good chance that Illumination Entertainment ends up beating Pixar for the second-straight time. Also, the budget was only $75 million, half of what animated movies usually cost to make nowadays. Universal will see a huge profit on this one.
Fellow Universal blockbuster Jurassic World took second place in its fifth weekend of release, as the blockbuster had its best hold yet (partially due to playing in some drive-in double features with Minions). Jurassic World was off 38% to $18.1 million, for an amazing $590.6 million gross in one month of release. In just a few days, the reboot to the iconic franchise will become just the fourth movie in history to pass $600 million, and will pass The Avengers $623 million final gross. Overseas, Jurassic World has taken fifth place on the all-time worldwide chart with $1.488 billion worldwide and Japan still yet to open.
After finally taking the top spot last week, Inside Out fell to the bronze position, and it held actually fairly decently considering the strong competition. Pixar's latest hit was off 43% to $17.1 million, for a strong $283.6 million pick-up in 24 days. Inside Out should pass $300 million by next Sunday, and if it stabilizes from here, has a shot at $350 million. Overseas, Inside Out is only playing at around half of the international marketplace and has picked up a very solid $435 million worldwide so far.
Following a disappointing debut last weekend, Terminator: Genysis didn't drop hard this weekend, though it didn't have a good hold either. The Arnold Schwarzenegger reboot was off 49% to $13.7 million, for a not-great $68.7 million gross in 12 days. At its' current pace, with more competition coming, Genysis may or may not hit $100 million domestically. Overseas, the reboot is performing very well, with already $225 million worldwide picked up with Asia yet to open.
Opening in fifth place was horror flick The Gallows, which opened a bit below expectations with $10 million, for a mild $3,682 per-venue average. Warner Bros. seventh release of the summer opened in line with The Lazarus Effect from earlier this year, but was less than half of the Poltergeist remake and Insidious - Chapter 3. The horror genre hasn't had a very good year by all means. The budget was likely small so this will still at least break even, but with negative reviews (15% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a "C" CinemaScore (typical for horror fare), this will probably fade fast from theaters. Expectations for this were in the low-teens millions.
Fellow Warner Bros. flick Magic Mike XXL followed with a surprisingly strong hold, off just 25% from last weekend to $9.6 million. In comparison, the first Magic Mike fell 60%, though it opened much stronger. In 10 days, the low-budget Channing Tatum flick has earned a decent $48.4 million, and with not much competition for females coming up, it could very well continue to hold well. Meanwhile, one of this year's rare missteps for Universal, Ted 2, followed with another drop-off, down 50% to $5.6 million. The Seth McFarlane disappointment has picked up just $71.6 million in 17 days and will lose more audience to fellow Universal flick Trainwreck next week. It should finish up between $80 and $85 million.
Meanwhile, the final new release, sci-fi flick Self/less, failed to generate any interest. The latest from director Tarsem Singh managed just a $5.4 million debut in eighth place, for a mediocre per-venue average of $2,286. Despite a solid marketing effort from distributor Focus Features, this never really had any signs of solid buzz ahead of release. Reviews were negative (21% on Rotten Tomatoes), while the CinemaScore was a better "B+". In the end, with strong action movie competition coming up, don't expect this to last long in this list. The budget was around $25 million, so the overall financial risk won't be much.
Opening in just 236 locations, foreign import Baahubali: The Beginning opened to a strong $3.6 million in ninth place ($15,148 per-venue average). Every once in a while, an India-based release breaks out, and this is no different. Whether or not it holds up well from here is a major question mark. Rounding out the Top 10 in its third week is family flick Max (and the third Warner Bros. title in the list this week), which felt the brunt of Minions and fell 48% to $3.4 million, for a mild $33.7 million gross in 17 days.
And that's it. Next weekend brings Marvel's second effort for the year, Ant-Man and the critically-adored Trainwreck, in what should be another strong weekend.
