It looked like the holiday frame would give Pixar’s Inside Out the advantage, but it was not to be. Jurassic World edged out the animated hit with an estimated $30.9 million to IO’s $30.1 million. So at least for now, Inside Out will remain the only Pixar feature to be locked out of number one at the box office. That gives it a unique status: as the highest-grossing film to never reach number one. The former holder of that record was My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with $241.4 million. Of course, there’s still a chance that IO will hit number one. But with Minions on the horizon, this weekend was probably its last chance.

[Editor's Note: Dave here. As of this moment, Jurassic World has also surpassed Avengers: Age of Ultron for all-time worldwide box office grosses by $1.5 million, taking the #5 spot.]

Inside Out was down 42% in its third weekend: a nearly identical hold to its sophomore frame. The film has earned a total of $246.1 million in North America over 17 days, which makes it the seventh highest grossing feature in Pixar’s 20 year history. By comparison, Jurassic World was down just 19.7% in its fourth frame, which accounts for its very narrow victory. As we’ve reminded you several times over the last few weeks, estimates that are this close should not be considered definitive. Studios do not release their actual earnings until Monday, but until then we can assume that JW remains dominant.

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Unfortunately for Paramount, Monday actuals will not save Terminator Genisys. The fifth entry in the Terminator franchise opened in third place this weekend with an estimated $28.7 million. That’s well below the $35 million three-day start that was expected, not to mention 32% behind the 2009 launch of Terminator Salvation. Over its first five days, Genisys has earned an estimated $44 million. That’s exactly what Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines claimed in its debut weekend back in 2003 – before adjusting for inflation.

After a strong start on Wednesday, Magic Mike XXL continued to lose momentum in its first weekend in theatres. The sequel to 2012’s surprise summer hit remained in fourth place with an estimated $12 million three-day debut and an overall five-day total of $27 million. That’s below even the adjusted projections Warner Bros. released after XXL’s Friday performance.


In other disappointing sequel news, Ted 2 was down a giant 67% in its sophomore frame. In 2012, the original Ted was off just 40% for its second weekend. Ted also claimed $54.4 million in its first three days: a number it took the sequel nine days to reach.

On a more positive note, Fox Searchlight’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl hit the top ten for the first time this weekend after expanding its theatre count to 870. The PG-13 drama opened in 15 locations in mid-June and has been building steadily ever since. Including this weekend’s estimate, Me and Earl has earned a domestic total of $4 million.

Overall business this Independence Day holiday was up slightly over 2014, though that’s not saying much considering that last year’s holiday was one of the lowest-grossing in box office history. Next weekend should put another win in 2015’s column, assuming Universal Animation’s Minions follows current projection models. Based on the little, yellow creatures made popular by Despicable Me, Minions is expected to open above the $83.5 million of 2013’s Despicable Me 2. Thanks to Jurassic World, Universal is already the top-grossing studio of 2015, so a big debut for Minions would just be icing on an already very lucrative cake.

Here’s this weekend’s top ten based on studio estimates:

 Title

Weekend

Total

1.

 Jurassic World

$30,942,000

$558.2

2.

 Inside Out

$30,105,000

$246.1

3.

 Terminator Genisys

$28,700,000

$44.1

4.

 Magic Mike XXL

$12,040,000

$27

5.

 Ted 2

$11,016,000

$58.3

6.

 Max

$7,000,000

$25.7

7.

 Spy

$5,500,000

$97.8

8.

 San Andreas

$3,000,000

$147.3

9.

 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

$1,320,000

$4

10.

 Dope

$1,098,000

$14.1


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