It was a very close race last weekend between fellow blockbusters Inside Out and Jurassic World. As of Sunday Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World had the edge based on studio estimates, but ultimately Disney’s Inside Out finished in first with a take of $29.77 million. Jurassic World placed in a close second with $29.24 million. The two films were separated by just over half a million for the weekend. On the heels of two relatively close second place performances the previous two weekends, last weekend represented the first time Inside Outtook first place over the weekend.

Sadness (L to R), Fear, Anger, Disgust and Joy from Inside Out. (Photo: Pixar)

Inside Out was down 43 percent from the previous weekend. Holdovers in general were noticeably affected by Independence Day falling on Saturday this year — the first time since 2009. Inside Out continued to exceed 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 get tougher with the release of Universal’s highly anticipated Minions this coming Friday.

Jurassic World dropped 46 percent from the previous weekend’s performance. Without adjusting for 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. Last 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.

Paramount Pictures’ 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 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. Going forward, Terminator Genisys faces 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 and Thursday, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Magic Mike XXL lost 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. The film’s early front-loading is 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 to Saturday. Magic Mike XXL is running 44 percent behind the $49.62 million five-day take of 2012’s Magic Mike, which opened on a Friday. It will be helped out by its very modest production budget.

Universal’s Ted 2 rounded out the weekend’s top five with $11.17 million. On the heels of the previous weekend’s softer than expected start, the Seth MacFarlane directed comedy sequel was down a sharp 67 percent. Ted 2 has grossed a much softer than expected $58.50 million in 10 days. That places the film a disappointing 51 percent behind the $119.85 million 10-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 last 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 the previous weekend. Max continues to perform in line with expectations with a solid 10-day take of $25.38 million.

In a tight race for first place last weekend, Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World was able to hold off Disney’s Inside Out with a weekend take of $54.53 million. The two films were separated by only $2.21 million over the weekend. Jurassic World fell 49 percent from the previous weekend’s performance, which was inflated by the Father’s Day holiday. The film claimed the third largest third weekend performance of all-time without adjusting for ticket price inflation; behind only the $68.49 million third weekend take of 2009’s Avatar and the $55.64 million third weekend take of 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers.

urassic World held onto its top spot for the third weekend in a row. (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Universal Pictures)

Jurassic World surpassed the $500 million mark on Sunday and has grossed $500.37 million in 17 days. In reaching the $500 million domestic milestone in 17 days, Jurassic World easily shattered the previous record of 23 days held by The Avengers. Jurassic World is now the highest grossing release of 2015 to date domestically as it has zoomed past the $452.47 million total gross of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Without adjusting for inflation, Jurassic World is already the fifth highest grossing film of all-time domestically. The film is running an impressive $42.70 million and 9 percent ahead of the $457.67 million 17-day take of The Avengers.

Inside Out held up nicely over the weekend with a second place take of $52.32 million. The 3D computer animated blockbuster from Pixar declined 42 percent from its already stronger than expected debut. That represented a stronger second weekend percentage hold than those of both 2013’s Monsters University, which fell 45 percent to gross $45.61 million, and 2010’s Toy Story 3, which fell 46 percent to gross $59.34 million. Extremely strong word of mouth and critical reviews, being a non-sequel and being more weekend heavy than other recent Pixar films all helped Inside Out last weekend. Inside Out continues to exceed its already lofty expectations with a 10-day take of $185.14 million. That places the film 9 percent ahead of the $170.43 million 10-day gross of Monsters University and 18 percent behind the $226.89 million 10-day take of Toy Story 3.

While Jurassic World and Inside Out continued to excel, Ted 2 was off to an underwhelming third place start with $33.51 million. The Seth MacFarlane directed comedy sequel from Universal and MRC opened well below expectations, which had tended to range anywhere from $45 million to $60 million. Ted 2 appears to have suffered significantly from being unable to stand out from its predecessor. Mixed critical reviews didn’t help either. There’s also little doubt that potential for the film was ultimately limited by the breakout performances of both Jurassic World and Inside Out. Ted 2 opened 38 percent below the $54.42 million debut of 2012’s Ted and as a sequel is highly likely to be more front-loaded than its predecessor was.

Meanwhile, Max debuted in line with more modest expectations with a fourth place take of $12.16 million. The modestly budgeted family film from Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM was off to a solid start last weekend, especially given the competition it faced for family audiences from Inside Out. The film is likely to hold up well going forward, although it will face competition for family audiences from Universal’s highly anticipated Minions beginning July 10.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Spy rounded out the weekend’s top five with $7.91 million. The Melissa McCarthy led comedy held up well again last weekend as it was down just 29.5 percent. After getting out of the gates slower than expected, Spy has stabilized nicely over the past two weeks thanks in part to strong word of mouth. Spy also likely received an added boost from the softer than expected start of Ted 2. The 24-day total for Spy stands at $88.46 million.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ San Andreas demolished expectations in a big way last weekend with a first place start of $54.59 million. The Dwayne Johnson led disaster film proved to be critic proof and no doubt received an added boost from Johnson’s growing fanbase after the recent break-out success of Furious 7. The opening weekend performance of San Andreas was especially impressive when considering the relatively low levels of online buzz the film displayed in the weeks leading up to its release. However, competition will be fierce throughout June, especially from Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World.

Carla Gugino (l to r) as Emma and Dwayne Johnson as Ray in San Andreas. (Photo: Justin Boland/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Pitch Perfect 2 placed a distant second with $14.82 million. Universal’s successful musical comedy sequel starring Anna Kendrick was down 52 percent from the previous weekend’s three-day weekend. While Pitch Perfect 2 continues to be quite front-loaded, the film is still outpacing expectations with a 17-day take of $147.52 million. Pitch Perfect 2 could experience another sizable decline this coming weekend with both 20th Century Fox’s Spy and Focus’s Insidious: Chapter 3 entering the marketplace.

On the heels of its already lackluster debut, Disney’s Tomorrowland was down two spots and 57 percent to place in third with $14.30 million. Mixed word of mouth and the break-out performance of San Andreas both clearly took a toll on Tomorrowland last weekend. The pricy Brad Bird directed sci-fi film starring George Clooney has grossed $63.69 million in 10 days of release. Tomorrowland will need to stabilize soon if it is to eventually reach the $100 million domestic mark.

Warner Bos.’ Mad Max: Fury Road followed closely behind in fourth with $14.18 million. The critically acclaimed action film starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron was down 42 percent, which represented a solid hold given the added presence of San Andreas. Mad Max: Fury Road continues to perform on the high end of expectations with a 17-day take of $116.47 million.

Avengers: Age of Ultron rounded out the weekend’s top five with $11.40 million. The blockbuster superhero sequel from Disney and Marvel fell 47 percent from the previous weekend. Avengers: Age of Ultron has grossed $427.55 million through 31 days of release. It moved into 10th place on the all-time unadjusted domestic chart.

Meanwhile, Sony’s Aloha was off to a very soft start with a sixth place take of just $9.67 million. The Cameron Crowe directed film starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams opened below its already scaled back expectations. Unlike San Andreas, which was able to use Johnson’s recent success with Furious 7 to its advantage, Aloha was unable to see any type of boost from Cooper’s recent success with American Sniper. The one saving grace for Aloha is that the film carried a modest reported production budget of $37 million.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Poltergeist placed in seventh with $8.06 million. The PG-13 horror remake was down a very sharp 64 percent from the previous weekend. Poltergeist has grossed $38.53 million in 10 days. That is towards the lower end of pre-release expectations.

Universal Pictures’ Pitch Perfect 2 got off to a terrific first place start last weekend with $69.22 million. The highly anticipated musical comedy sequel starring Anna Kendrick outpaced lofty pre-release expectations. Pitch Perfect 2 has already out-grossed the $65.00 million final domestic gross of 2012’s Pitch Perfect. An effective high-profile marketing campaign and the rush out of the film’s fanbase, which continued to grow after the original film was released to the home market, both helped turn Pitch Perfect 2 into an event film.

The Barden Bellas performing in world competition. (Photo: Universal Pictures)

Following in the footsteps of Fifty Shades of Grey and Furious 7, Pitch Perfect 2 represents another strong 2015 performer for Universal. The studio hopes to continue its strong start to the year in the coming months with the likes of Jurassic World, Ted 2 and Minions.

While it ultimately didn’t challenge Pitch Perfect 2 for first place last weekend, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Mad Max: Fury Road was off to a very solid second place start $45.43 million. The critically acclaimed action film starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron opened on the high end of expectations, which were strengthened due to the film’s very strong critical reviews. Fury Road was one of this summer’s bigger question marks due in part to its high price tag and the 30-year gap between it and the Mad Max franchise’s last film, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Avengers: Age of Ultron fell two spots to finish in third last weekend with $38.86 million. In the process, the blockbuster superhero sequel from Disney and Marvel passed Furious 7 to become the highest grossing release of 2015 so far domestically with a 17-day take of $372.03 million. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Avengers: Age of Ultron claimed the fifth largest third weekend gross of all-time behind only Avatar, Marvel’s The Avengers, Spider-Man and The Dark Knight.

Avengers: Age of Ultron was down 50 percent from the previous weekend, which was understandable given the one-two punch it took from Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road. In comparison, 2012’s The Avengers fell just 46 percent in its third weekend to gross $55.64 million. Avengers: Age of Ultron is currently running 19 percent behind the $457.67 million 17-day take of The Avengers.

Warner Bros.’ Hot Pursuit finished in fourth place with $5.72 million. The comedy from MGM and New Line starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofía Vergara fell two spots and a sharp 59 percent from the previous weekend. The added presence of Pitch Perfect 2, mixed word of mouth and its debut being inflated a bit by Mother’s Day all contributed to the film’s decline. Hot Pursuit has grossed a softer than expected $23.45 million in 10 days.

Disney Entertainment’s Avengers: Age of Ultron remained in first place last weekend with $77.75 million. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, that represented the second largest second weekend gross of all-time behind only the $103.05 million second weekend take of 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers. However, Avengers: Age of Ultron was down 59 percent from its opening weekend. That represented a significantly sharper decline than the 50 percent The Avengers fell in its second weekend and was much more in line with the 58 percent second weekend decline of 2013’s Iron Man 3.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron (L to R) Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). (Photo: Marvel)

Last weekend’s hold isn’t the most encouraging sign going forward for Avengers: Age of Ultron, especially given that last Saturday’s performance was deflated by that day’s much talked about sports events and that the film will be facing much tougher competition throughout the rest of May than The Avengers did back in 2012. With that said, Avengers: Age of Ultron has already grossed $313.40 million in 10 days, which stands as the third largest 10-day start ever behind only The Avengers and 2008’s The Dark Knight. Avengers: Age of Ultron is currently running 16 percent behind the $373.07 million 10-day take of The Avengers and 10 percent ahead of the $284.95 million 10-day gross of Iron Man 3.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Hot Pursuit debuted in a distant second place with $13.94 million. The comedy from MGM and New Line starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofía Vergara opened below expectations. The film had hoped to receive an added boost from opening on Mother’s Day weekend, but the film’s potential was clearly limited by poor reviews and by opening only one week before Universal’s highly anticipated Pitch Perfect 2 arrives in theatres.

It was a fairly close three-way race for third place last weekend between Lionsgate Entertainment’s The Age of Adaline, Universal Pictures’ Furious 7 and Sony Pictures’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. The Age of Adaline ultimately had the edge for third between the three thanks in part to its Mother’s Day performance.

The Age of Adaline took in $5.82 million last weekend. That represented a decline of just 6 percent from the previous weekend, as holdovers in general were helped out by Saturday’s deflated grosses, Mother’s Day and the limited amount of new competition. The romantic drama starring Blake Lively has grossed $31.75 million in 17 days.

Furious 7 placed in fourth with $5.41 million. The sixth installment of the blockbuster action franchise was down 19 percent from the previous weekend. Furious 7 has grossed $338.56 million through 38 days of release. That places the film 45 percent ahead of the $233.35 million 38-day take of 2013’s Fast & Furious 6.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 followed closely behind in fifth with $5.31 million. The Kevin James led comedy sequel was down 10 percent from the previous weekend. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 has grossed $58.19 million in 24 days.

A24’s Ex Machina held up very nicely upon expanding into wider release last weekend. The critically acclaimed Alex Garland directed sci-fi film placed in sixth with $3.51 million. Thanks in part to strong word of mouth and expanding into an additional 725 locations, Ex Machina was up an impressive 54 percent. Ex Machina has grossed $15.76 million in 31 days.