NORTH AMERICA: Weekend Actuals: 'Inside Out' Ultimately #1 with $29.8M; 'Jurassic World' a Close #2 with $29.2M; 'Terminator Genisys' Underwhelms with $27.0M; Front-loaded 'Magic Mike XXL' Lackluster with $12.9M

By Daniel Garris

It was a very close race this weekend between fellow blockbusters Inside Out and Jurassic World. As of Sunday Universal's Jurassic World had the edge based on studio estimates, but ultimately Disney's Inside Out ended up ahead with a first place take of $29.77 million. Jurassic World placed in a close second with $29.24 million. The two films were separated by just $0.53 million for the frame. On the heels of two relatively close second place performances each of the past two weekends, this weekend represented the first time Inside Out took first place over the weekend frame.

Inside Out was down a solid 43 percent from last weekend. Holdovers in general were noticeably affected by Independence Day falling on Saturday this year (the first time that has occurred since back in 2009). Inside Out continues to exceed its lofty expectations with a strong 17-day start of $245.89 million. That already makes the film the fourth highest grossing release of 2015 thus far (behind only Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Furious 7). Compared to other previous blockbusters from Pixar, Inside Out is running an impressive 14 percent ahead of the $216.25 million 17-day take of 2013's Monsters University and 15 percent behind the $289.11 million 17-day gross of 2010's Toy Story 3. Competition for family audiences will soon be getting much tougher with the release of Universal's highly anticipated Minions this coming Friday.

Jurassic World decreased a respectable 46 percent from last weekend's performance. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Jurassic World registered the third largest fourth weekend performance of all-time (behind only 2009's Avatar and 2012's Marvel's The Avengers). Jurassic World has grossed a massive $556.54 million through 24 days of release. This weekend the film surpassed the $534.86 million final gross of 2008's The Dark Knight to move into fourth place on the all-time unadjusted domestic list. Jurassic World is now just $66.82 million away from passing the $623.36 million final domestic gross of The Avengers to move into third place on the list. Jurassic World is currently running $43.17 million and 8 percent ahead of the $513.37 million 24-day take of The Avengers.

Paramount's Terminator Genisys wasn't far behind with a third place debut of $27.02 million. The Arnold Schwarzenegger led 3D sci-fi action sequel has grossed $42.47 million through five days of release. Terminator Genisys is performing a bit below its already scaled back expectations and in the bigger picture is performing softly with both its cost and the previous history of The Terminator franchise in mind. Terminator Genisys is running 35 percent behind the $65.32 million five-day start of 2009's Terminator Salvation (which opened on a Thursday) and 41 percent behind the $72.39 million five-day take of 2003's Terminator 3 (which opened on a Wednesday). The film is performing much more in line with the $40.14 million five-day Independence Day weekend start of 2009's Public Enemies.

One positive aspect of the holiday start for Terminator Genisys is that the film was relatively back-loaded with a five-day to three-day weekend ratio of 1.57 to 1. That stat, along with the film's B+ rating on CinemaScore suggests that Terminator Genisys is going over better with moviegoers than it has with critics. On the other hand, Terminator Genisys will be facing new direct competition from the likes of Disney's Ant-Man, Sony's Pixels and fellow Paramount release Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation throughout the month of July.

After getting off to a solid start on Wednesday (when the film took first place for the day) and Thursday, Warner's Magic Mike XXL lost major momentum over the weekend and had to settle for a distant fourth place take of $12.86 million. That placed the five-day start for the Channing Tatum led sequel at a significantly softer than expected $27.89 million and gave the film a 5-day to 3-day weekend ratio of 2.17 to 1. The film's early front-loading is obviously a troubling sign going forward, though some of the front-loading is clearly due to the film being greatly affected by Independence Day falling on Saturday (the film was down 60 percent from Friday on Saturday). Magic Mike XXL is running 44 percent below the $49.62 million five-day take of 2012's Magic Mike (which opened on a Friday) and 28 percent behind the $38.51 million five-day start of 2003's Legally Blonde 2 (which opened a Wednesday).

The audience breakdown for Magic Mike XXL skewed towards moviegoers over the age of 25 (73 percent) and extremely towards female moviegoers (96 percent). In comparison, the film's predecessor skewed 73 percent towards female moviegoers. Magic Mike XXL will be helped out by its very modest production budget and the film did receive a promising A- rating on CinemaScore, so it may be able to stabilize a bit after this weekend, especially on weekdays.

Universal's Ted 2 rounded out the weekend's top five with $11.17 million. On the heels of last weekend's already softer than expected start, the Seth MacFarlane directed comedy sequel was down a very sharp 67 percent. Ted 2 has grossed a much softer than expected $58.50 million in ten days. That places the film a very disappointing 51 percent behind the $119.85 million ten-day take of 2012's Ted (which fell just 41 percent in its second weekend to gross $32.20 million). Given its far poorer second weekend hold and its nature as a sequel, Ted 2 is set to fall further and further behind the pace of its predecessor going forward. Ted and Magic Mike broke out at the same time three years ago during the summer of 2012, but in hindsight audiences clearly weren't all that hungry for a sequel to either film.

Max held up far better this weekend with a sixth place take of $6.62 million. The modestly budgeted family film from Warner Bros. and MGM was down 46 percent from last weekend. Max continues to perform in line with expectations with a solid ten-day take of $25.38 million. That places the film 22 percent ahead of the $20.87 million ten-day gross of last year's Earth to Echo.

On the platform front, A24's Amy was off to a nice start with $222,500 from 6 locations in New York and Los Angeles. That gave the critically acclaimed documentary on the late Amy Winehouse a per-location average of $37,083 for the frame. Amy will be expanding into additional locations on Friday.