Universal’s megahit Jurassic World, which set a new opening weekend box office record in North America last week, narrowly missed topping The Avengers’ $103 million second weekend record with an estimated $102 million in its sophomore session.  But that sterling performance was needed to best Pixar’s Inside Out, which debuted with $91 million, the best bow ever for a Pixar original, and the best opening ever for any original movie, which is not based on a source from another medium.  With two such potent performances driving the overall total, the total of the top 12 films was up 70.4% from the same weekend last year when Think Like a Man Too opened with $29.2 million.|

Jurassic World dipped just 51%, which is, as readers of this weekly feature already know, a very strong hold, especially when a film opens north of $200 million.  In just ten days Jurassic World has earned $398 million here in North America, and by this time next week it should pass Avengers: Age of Ultron to become the #1 movie of 2015 so far.  A finish well past the $500 million mark is assured, though competition will heat up in coming weeks.

Overseas, the picture is much the same with Jurassic Park dominating as it earned $160.5 million in its second frame, bringing its overseas total to 583.1 million for a current worldwide cumulative of #981.3 million (it should pass the $1 billion mark on Monday).  Let’s just say that Jurassic Park has the potential to set all kinds of records if it keeps demonstrating this kind of “legs” in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile Pixar had its string of number one openings broken in the most delightful way.  Inside Out, which currently has a superlative 98% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, posted the best showing ever by film that didn’t top the domestic box office.  Among Pixar films, only Toy Story III ($115.7 million) posted a better debut, and that of course was a sequel.

Audiences liked Inside Out giving it an “A” CinemaScore, and the film opened well overseas earning $41 million.  The big question is will Inside Out have the kind of staying power that some previous Pixar titles have shown.  The worst performing Pixar title, Cars 2, earned just 2.8 times its opening weekend total during its full domestic run, while others like Up (4.26x) and Finding Nemo (4.84x) did much better.  In terms of quality (and originality) Inside Out ranks with Up and Finding Nemo, but it will also face direct competition from Universal’s Minions, which has already opened overseas, but won’t bow here until July 10.  Most analysts predicted that Minions, not Inside Out, would be the top-earning animated film of 2015.

Females made up 56% of the audience for Inside Out, which played extremely well to the “family” audience, with families making up 71% of the opening weekend audience, followed by adults (21%) and teens (8%).  3-D showings accounted for just 28% of Inside Out’s domestic total (versus 47% for the second weekend of Jurassic Park, a title that has really been helped by 3-D).

With Jurassic World and Inside Out accounting for 82% of the money earned by the top 12 films, there wasn’t a lot left over for other films.  Paul Feig’s R-rated comedy Spy starring Melissa McCarthy, continues to show solid “legs” as it dropped just 32.8%, earning $10.5 million and bringing its total to $74.4 million.  Likewise the disaster film San Andreas slipped just 24% as it added $8.2 million, bringing its domestic haul to $132.2 million.

The Sundance favorite Dope, an R-rated feature that currently has a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, opened on over 2000 screens and earned just $6 million.  With any luck, this interesting film with a strong soundtrack will get some more attention from audiences in the coming weeks, as the box office takes a breath before a new batch of wannabe blockbusters hits in July.

Be sure to check back here next week as Seth Macfarlane’s r-rated foul-mouthed Teddy Bear sequel, Ted 2 opens, along with the canine-themed “family” film Max.