During the 4th of July weekend Americans display their flags, enjoy barbecues, rush to the beach, and they go the movies. The patriotic weekend is actually a very desirable time to open a new picture and to secure the date, and scare away the competition; studios sometimes claim it years in advance. That’s what Paramount did for Terminator: Genysis, the fifth installment of the series originally created by James Cameron back in 1984. There was a bonus: after a few misfires following the end of his term as Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, this time, was supposed to really be back.
 
What was a good plan was, however, derailed by two holdovers that nobody expected to be so strong and that do not seem to have the intention of fading away gracefully. We are talking about Jurassic World and Inside Out that after four and three weeks, respectively, were still number one and number two in the North American market. The dinosaur franchise, with an extra $31 million and a $560 million domestic total so far, is now the fastest movie to reach the $550 million mark: it took just 24 days. Inside Out was second again, just half a million short, thus earning an odd distinction: with a $246 million domestic, so far, it now holds the title of biggest-grossing movie that never topped the box office charts. And Terminator? It had to settle for a bronze medal, grossing $28.7 million for the weekend and $44.1 million for the five-days-debut. The audience was 62 percent male, 2/3 of it was over 25. With a production cost approaching the $200 million mark, the result may put into question the plan of having two new installments. The domestic disappointment, though, was mitigated by the overseas grosses: Genysis was number one internationally with $74 million. Worldwide the total stands at $130 million, with major markets such as China, Japan, Germany and Italy still to be conquered. With 46 so far already open, Genysis is number one almost everywhere and is projected to end its run overseas in the $300 to $400 million range. Russia led the way this week with $12.5 million, followed by Korea with $11 million and Mexico with $6.2 million. The UK added $5.6 million, which was good only for a number two placement. At the top we had Minions, that after 10 days in theaters is now at $31 million. The follow-up to Despicable Me opened this week in Germany ($9 million), in Spain ($5.9 million), in Argentina ($5.5 million). It added $54 million, and now stands at $124 million total.
 
Still overseas, next in the charts came Jurassic World by adding $42 million. With a total worldwide gross of $1.385 billion, it overtook Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($1.341 billion) and Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.383 billion) to become the fifth-biggest worldwide movie of all time. Pixar’s Inside Out added $18.6 million, for a worldwide total of $364 million. That means it is playing better than any other Pixar film except Toy Story 3. And there are still many key markets where it has not opened yet, including China, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and Korea.  
 
Back on the domestic front, there were a few disappointments. Magic Mike XXL was good for a $12 million weekend and for a five-day-debut of $27.1M. Magic Mike, the original, opened with $39.1 million and it appealed to both sexes. Not this time: the audience was 96% female, an apparent record. Then there were the holdovers: In its second week, Ted 2 dropped 67 per cent and fell to $11.4 million. It does not have the power of the original Ted, but the film has grossed $94 million worldwide thus far and many markets have not opened yet. After five weeks in the domestic theaters, the Melissa McCarthy spy comedy Spy earned an extra $5.5 million, for a total domestic close to $100 million and $210 million worldwide. Finally, a documentary, Amy, about the life and death of the late British songwriter and singer Amy Winehouse opened in just six theaters but it earned $222.000, for a spectacular $37,000 per screen. 
 
After much success overseas Minions will test the domestic market next week, posing a threat to Pixar’s Inside Out. Terminator: Genisys meanwhile will debut in Japan, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Lorenzo Soria