Jurassic World appears to be one of those increasingly rare blockbusters that is doing almost as much business in North America (46.1%) as it does in the rest of the world combined. The Chris Pratt-starring blockbuster dropped just 49% in its third frame as it earned $54.2 million and became the highest grossing film of 2015 so far as it passed Avengers: Age of Ultron. In fact it now appears that it will be a tall order for any upcoming 2015 film to surpass Jurassic World—even if Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the monster hit Disney is hoping for, since it debuts in December, it will do much of its box office work in 2016.
Meanwhile Pixar’s Inside Out is performing exceptionally well for an original property, in fact so far it is doing better than any previous Pixar release except the studio’s all-time hit Toy Story III. Dropping just 42% in its second frame, Inside Out has earned $185 million in ten days here in North America, where it appears to have a good chance of topping the $300 million mark. Pixar is rolling the film out slowly overseas, and Inside Out should boost its foreign earnings (now at just $81.5 million) over the coming weeks.
Seth MacFarlane’s R-rated comedy sequel Ted 2 opened well below expectations with an estimated $32.9 million, which is 40% less than the $54.4 million bow of the first Ted film back in 2012. But in 2012 Ted was the first post-Avengers hit of the summer, and it certainly didn’t face competition like Jurassic World and Inside Out. The original Ted earned $218 million in North America, and a whopping $549.4 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing R-rated comedies ever.
Ted 2, which cost $68 million to produce, is clearly not going to come anywhere close to the original Ted’s numbers, but it should still do well. Even though it’s definitely not going to be a blockbuster, Ted 2 is no bomb either. Though the reviews are lackluster (just 46% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), opening weekend audiences still gave Ted 2 an “OK” B+ CinemaScore (not as good as the original Ted’s A- grade, but not that much worse either, especially considering most sequels have a hard time matching the score of a highly successful original film).
The only other nationwide debut, the PTSD dog picture Max, opened modestly in fourth place with $12.2 million. This “feel good” narrative about a dog who returns from Afghanistan after the death of his handler and bonds with the dead soldier’s son is the sort of film that could develop “legs” over the coming weeks, especially since the movie earned an A Cinemascore from an audience that trended female (55%), and younger (24% under 18, 43% under 25).
Among the other holdovers, the Melissa McCarthy-starring R-rated Spy dropped just 30.5% and finished in fifth place, just ahead of the leggy action film San Andreas. The excellent teenage coming-of-age movie Dope continues to struggle as it dropped 53% in its second frame, though there still some hope that audiences will discover this little gem of a Sundance comedy.
Avengers: Age of Ultron slipped to #10 in its ninth weekend of release as it wound down its domestic run in which it has amassed $452.4 million, which is just 33% of its worldwide total of $1.372 billion (note the difference in the percentage of its global total versus that of Jurassic World).
In limited release, the documentary Batkid Begins, about a boy stricken with cancer who wants to become “Batkid,” opened in just four locations and earned 23K.
Be sure to check back here next week to see if the would-be blockbuster Terminator: Genisys or the beefcake-laden Magic Mike XXL can put an end to the box office dominance of Jurassic World.
