Weekend Wrap-Up

Jurassic World, Inside Out Lead Triumphant Box Office

By John Hamann

June 21, 2015

Next sequel: Jurassic Jail.

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The performance of Jurassic World takes absolutely nothing away from the massive success that Inside Out found at the box office this weekend, as Pixar literally does it again – just not at number one for the first time ever. Inside Out earned a best-for-Pixar $3.7 million from Thursday previews, setting the stage for what was going to end up being a stunning weekend. Inside Out then took in $34.2 million on Friday ($30.5 million without the preview amounts included), the second best opening day for a Pixar film, behind only Toy Story 3’s massive $41 million first day in June 2010. The opening day was bigger than Monster University’s $30.5 million, which meant it was destined to outgross one of the Pixar sequels, despite tracking and a bucketload of analysts calling for a $60-65 million opening (no wonder Nielsen is selling off NRG).

As per traditional Pixar, it had a lower internal multiplier than most family fare (meaning it plays across demos, and not just to kids). The weekend finished at powerful $91.1 million, making it the second biggest Pixar debut of all-time, behind Toy Story 3’s $110.3 million, and well ahead of Monster University’s $82.4 million. Inside Out becomes the biggest film to not open at #1, hammering The Day After Tomorrow’s $68.7 million debut. Inside Out used a clever marketing campaign, which has become the usual Pixar/Disney process, stopping at Cannes and having the voice actors out and about everywhere talking up the film.

Again, as usual for Pixar, it was able to promote itself through stellar reviews – this time even stronger than usual, as Inside Out is 98% fresh, with only four sad sacks out of a possible 182 finding something not to like. Up was a very similar release for the studio and its maker, as that Disney/Pixar release was also 98% fresh, with only five negative nellies out there bringing the score down.




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The Cinemascore for Inside Out came in at an A, just a bit lower than Up’s A+ but matches the score that Toy Story 3 received. This is huge news for the overall box office, as now we have two decently reviewed crowd-pleasers running neck and neck, which should help overall box office scores going forward. When Marvel’s Avengers opened, it stayed number one for three weekends, but overall box office scores drifted significantly downward each weekend after, as there were no solid releases issued in its wake. Dark Shadows, Battleship, The Dictator, and Men in Black 3 all failed after the release of the Avengers, which removed momentum. After Inside Out, we have Ted 2 and Max next weekend, the Magic Mike sequel and Terminator the following frame, and the Minions movie the weekend after. While the verdict is still out on the Terminator reboot, the rest of the titles look strong, and should keep that momentum going into July.

That puts Melissa McCarthy’s Spy into third this weekend, as it sees a better hold than it had in the previous frame, when Jurassic World dominated. Spy earned another $10.5 million, off a respectable 33% compared to last weekend. The Fox release has now earned $74.4 million domestically against a $65 million budget, and has picked up another $60 million overseas. It needs about $50 million more worldwide to see a profit from the theatrical release, and should have no problem getting there.


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