Pixar has a pretty good idea what it feels like to be number one: that’s the spot each of their films has opened at since Toy Story. But if coming second means collecting $91 million (just below Toy Story 3’s record $110 million) while surpassing Avatar for the most successful opening for a non-sequel, you would still be justified in feeling like a winner. That’s because the top of the domestic chart was still monopolized by the Jurassic World juggernaut; in its second week it managed to produce a gigantic extra $102 million in the U.S. There is more: as we write, it zoomed past the $1 billion mark globally and it did it in only 13 days, beating every past record. If anything the monstrous success of Jurassic World makes the second place achieved by Inside Out even more remarkable. This is the first original Pixar movie since Brave, three years ago, and like Brave it is centered around a girl. Actually, it’s about the emotions of joy, sadness, disgust, fear and anger, that rule a young girl’s mind. In other words, following Pixar’s best traditions, it’s not your typical animated formula picture. And in the hands of
Up director Pete Docter Inside Out has managed to delight and surprise children and adults alike: its audience was 56% female, 38% children under 12. It is also doing well overseas: over $41 million in 37 markets, for a cumulative total so far of $132 million. The leading market is Mexico, with close to $9 million. It was also number one in Russia ($7.7 million), in France ($5.2 million – and the only major European country so far) and Argentina
($3 million). Analysts will now wonder what would have happened if they had had the field to themselves, but the dinosaurs of Jurassic World still managed to prove they are not a first weekend phenomenon. In its second week, the domestic market was good for an extra $102 million and a total of $398 million. Overseas, 66 territories produced $583 million, $167 of which come from China alone followed by the UK ($60 million) and, again, Mexico ($29.4). Furious 7 took 17 days to reach the $1 billion mark. Jurassic World has done it in only 13 and now the big question is if James Cameron, that holds the all-time number one and number two spots with Avatar and Titanic, might be in danger of losing those benchmarks. Back to the domestic market, the other major new entry this week was Dope. And it was a different outcome. At the Sundance Film Festival, the coming of age story directed by Rich Famuyima and produced by Forest Whitaker, Puff Daddy, and Pharrell Williams earned stellar reviews and generated a bidding war. But in major distribution (2,002 theaters) it was good for just $6 million. And yes, it had to face Inside Out and Jurassic World, but that does not fully explain the disappointing result. Spy, the comedy directed by Paul Fieg and starring Melissa McCarthy, managed to add another $10.5 million domestic, for a total of $74.5 million and an extra $96 million from overseas. Also San Andreas keeps adding dollars: an extra $8 million came from the U.S., for a total now of $132 million. Globally, the earthquake movie starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson easily crossed the $400 million mark, with 92 of those originating in China. Also in this case, Mexico stands out, with $30 million, followed by the UK with $15M and Korea with $12M. Among the holdovers, Mad Max: Fury Road opened in Japan and the offshore total for the George Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise is now over $200 million, for a global total of close to $350 million. Avengers: Age of Ultron also keeps generating money: the global total now stands at $1.37 billion, with Japan still to come. There was good news also for Universal’s musical comedy Pitch Perfect 2, now at $272 million worldwide: not bad for a picture that cost $29 million to produce. The opposite is true of Tomorrowland, which with a production cost of approximately $200 million and a worldwide total a tad below that will represent a major loss for Disney. As for Entourage the interest for Vinnie and the boys from the successful HBO series did not translate to the large screen and the movie adaptation is now at the end of its run with approximately $30 million domestic plus $10 million from overseas; a disappointment for Warner and also for Mark Wahlberg, who produced the original series and the picture. But the actor-producer may yet find consolation next week, when Universal launches Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2.

Lorenzo Soria