Although Fourth of July weekend is notoriously a huge box office weekend for new contenders, perhaps it should only be fitting the holiday would welcomed Jurassic World's fourth consecutive win on top of the chart.
Despite prospects suggesting either Terminator Genisys and Magic Mike XXL would take over the throne over this holiday weekend, both Wednesday-opening newcomers failed to take over either the dino-sequel or Pixar's latest, Inside Out. Both June release rounded out first and second place with $30.9 million and $30.1 million, respectively.
This puts Jurassic World with $558 million domestically, which makes it the fourth highest grossing movie of all-time and just $65.3 million away from The Avengers title at number three. At this rate, it has a solid chance of even overcoming Titanic's spot, as it is only $100 million away from earning $658.6 million James Cameron's movie made during its run. Making the $760.5 million Avatar made, however, may be a bit of a stretch.
Meanwhile, with the gross Inside Out made in its tight second place, the new Pixar movie earned a total of $246 million in the States, making it the fourth highest grossing movie of the year so far — there's that number again — and solidifying it as the highest grossing family movie of the year so far. This upcoming weekend may have something to say for that, though.
Moving on to third, Terminator Genisys earned a total of $28.7 million over the three-day weekend and $44.1 million since it opened in the middle of the week. Not terrible, but considering Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines made $72.3 million during the same five-day run in July 2003 — because Terminator Genisys needs to copy its other film's release dates too — these numbers are underwhelming, to say the least. They aren't necessarily encouraging Paramount to inch towards getting this new trilogy into motion, but if foreign box office does well the machine may live on for another day. Hopefully next time they put a little more time making a better movie if that's the case.
Then we find the stripper sequel coming at fourth with $12 million. Also opening on Wednesday, the Channing Tatum-led movie currently hosts $26.6 million in the bank so far. With a budget of just $15 million, Magic Mike XXL is already in the black, and any money it makes is just extra cheddar to pay off marketing and partying. If it earns the $113.7 million the first one made from a $7 million budget, though, is still left in question.
Dropping from third to fifth from last week, the underwhelming sequel (in more ways than one) Ted 2 dropped 67% this weekend, bringing in $11 million opposed to the $32.9 million it made during its debut. Its domestic total is $58 million thus far, which is a bit of a far cry from the $119 million the first had at this point in its 2012 run. Celebrating the best box office year they've ever had thanks to Jurassic World, Furious 7, Fifty Shades of Grey and Pitch Perfect 2, however, Universal isn't too concerned if this one doesn't break the bank.
Outside the top five, Me & Earl & the Dying Girl expanded this weekend and found itself in the number nine spot with $1.3 million during the holiday break and $4 million overall. A deserved gathering of cash for a movie that's without-a-doubt one of the year's finest.
Next weekend finds Minions, The Gallows and Self/less getting into the ring, with the former most definitely taking Inside Out's fire and probably going to dominate the top spot away from Jurassic World taking it for a fifth time. With Universal hosting both movies, however, this just means it's all coming to the same place.
Image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com