Pixar’s Monsters University dropped just 44% as it took the box office crown for the second weekend in a row.  One newcomer did well, the female buddy cop comedy The Heat finished a strong second, while the other major new film, the pricy adventure movie White House Down sputtered as did the overall box office which was down slightly (about 6%) from the same weekend last year when Seth MacFarlane’s Ted debuted with $54 million.  Meanwhile Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel slowed its descent and managed to push its worldwide total past $500 million, which likely insures the immediate future of the franchise.

Monsters University earned an estimated $46.2 million and brought its ten-day total to $171 million and will likely surpass Monster Incorporated’s $251 million domestic earnings.  The new Monsters film has earned $129.3 million overseas giving it a worldwide total of $300 million.  Typically top animated features demonstrate great "legs," and Monsters University does have a chance at $300 million at the domestic box office, though it will face formidable competition when Despicable Me 2, which debuted strongly overseas this weekend, opens here on July 3rd.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): June 28-30, 2013
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Monsters University	$46,180,000	4,004	$11,533	$171,006,000	2
2	The Heat	$40,000,000	3,181	$12,575	$40,000,000	1
3	World War Z	$29,800,000	3,607	$8,262	$123,722,000	2
4	White House Down	$25,700,000	3,222	$7,976	$25,700,000	1
5	Man of Steel	$20,820,000	4,131	$5,040	$248,660,000	3
6	This is the End	$8,700,000	2,710	$3,210	$74,681,000	3
7	Now You See Me	$5,500,000	2,564	$2,145	$104,681,000	5
8	Fast & Furious 6	$2,410,000	1,550	$1,555	$233,313,000	6
9	Star Trek Into Darkness	$2,040,000	1,035	$1,971	$220,501,000	7
10	The Internship	$1,425,000	1,008	$1,414	$41,705,000	4

The Heat, which pairs the red hot comedian Melissa McCarthy with box office darling Sandra Bullock, finished a very strong second with an estimated $40 million.  The successful debut of The Heat indicates that it might not be the wisest policy to ignore the female audience.  Women made up 65% of the opening weekend crowd for The Heat, with 67% of the crowd over 25 as might be expected with an "R" rated comedy.  The Heat, which has a current rating of 64% positive on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, earned a solid "A-" CinemaScore from audiences, which should translate into a long stay in theaters and quite likely the largest box office of any of this summer’s "R" rated comedies (The Hangover 3 is currently the leader with $110 million).

This weekend’s other newcomer, Roland Emmerich’s White House Down, stumbled to an estimated $25.7 million opening, which was less than the $30.6 million that the the similarly-themed (terrorists take over the White House) Olympus Has Fallen earned in March.  White House Down cost over $150 million, more than twice as much as Olympus Has Fallen and arguably has bigger stars, but sometimes timing can be everything.   The heavily advertised Olympus, which features hunky stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, did manage to attract a unusually gender-balanced audience (51% female) and those in attendance gave the film a solid "A-" CinemaScore, but the film faces an uphill battle to overcome its weak debut.

The zombie epic World War Z dropped 55% in its second weekend, which is not a bad drop off for a heavily hyped action movie blockbuster, especially in the face of this summer’s fierce competition for the action movie audience.  So far WWZ has earned $123.7 million domestically and $135.5 million overseas.  While its performance is a good deal better than many analysts predicted, World War Z which may have cost as much as $250 million to produce, still faces an uphill battle to break even.

It now appears that Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel will end up in the black.  Boosted by a renewed TV ad campaign, the film dropped just 50% in its third frame after it had tumbled 65% in its second.  The Superman reboot earned $20.8 million and brought its domestic total to $248.7 million.  Man of Steel is now 2013’s number two film trailing only Iron Man 3’s $405.4 million total.

Man of Steel also earned $52.2 million overseas this weekend.  With debuts in Japan and Brazil still to come Man of Steel has brought in $271.1 million offshore.  Domestically the Supes reboot stands a good chance of breaking the $300 million mark, especially if it can hold up through the coming July Fourth week.  A worldwide total north of $600 million appears likely, which means Warner Bros. and Legendary should show a profit even before the film heads to DVD.

Finishing in sixth place was the post-apocalyptic comedy This Is the End, which dropped 34.5% in its third frame, followed by the surprise hit Now You See Me, which earned $5.5 million in its fifth frame and brought its domestic total to $104.7 million.  Universal’s hit Fast and Furious 6 finished eighth followed by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, which earned $2 million and brought its domestic total to $220 million.  Unlike Abrams’ first Star Trek film, STID has earned almost as much overseas as it has here.  With a current worldwide total of $438 million Star Trek Into Darkness is at least getting close to profitability.

Next week’s numbered will be skewed by the Fourth of July holiday on Thursday with both of the major new films Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger opening on Wednesday, July 3rd.  The Thursday national holiday should make for a long weekend and may afford a chance for moviegoers to catch up on some films that they have missed so far in this frenetic summer season.  Check back next Sunday to see how the newcomers fared and how much the holdovers were able to pad their totals during what will be a “five-day weekend” for many.