Despicable Me spinoff Minions scored the second-highest US opening of all time for an animated movie, an estimated $115.2m (£74.1m), as 2015’s blockbuster year at the box office showed no signs of letting up this weekend.
The debut solo outing for the largely unintelligible yellow creatures tells the story of their rise from humble prehistoric origins to secure the position of scheming servants to Sandra Bullock’s nefarious Scarlet Overkill. The film finally dislodged dinosaur disaster epic Jurassic World from the top spot after four weeks, though some estimates had Pixar’s Inside Out in top spot last time out.
Colin Trevorrow’s sci-fi reboot was second this time around, with a fifth-week haul of $18.1m, taking its total in North America to a staggering $590m, while its animated rival had to be content with third, on figures of $17.1m for the weekend and $283.6m in total. The top three films in this week’s chart have taken well over $2bn combined across the globe, a sign of Hollywood’s continuing good health.
Total US box-office receipts have just crossed $6bn in record time, according to Box Office Mojo, and are running 7.8% ahead of 2014 figures, thanks to $1bn megahits such as Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Fast & Furious 7.
Terminator Genisys, featuring the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s teutonic T-800 cyborg, continued to struggle in North America despite better-than-expected returns elsewhere. Alan Taylor’s movie landed in fourth spot with $13.7m for a two-week total of just $68.7m. However, its global haul of $224.8m means it long since recouped its $155m shooting budget and ought to be well on the way to entering profit once marketing and other costs have been taken into account. Future instalments therefore seem inevitable, despite the movie having suffered roundly derisive reviews.
Two more new movies made the top 10 this weekend. Found footage horror The Gallows, about a supernatural force which targets four teenagers trapped in a high school where a terrible accident happened 20 years earlier, made fifth spot with $10m on debut. Sci-fi thriller Self/Less, starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley, disappointed with a bow of just $5.3m in eighth place.
Tarsem Singh’s film centres on a billionaire industrialist (Kingsley) whose consciousness is transferred into a new body after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Reynolds plays the post-op version of the character, who soon discovers that his new vessel harbours a terrible secret.
Indian epic Baahubali, the country’s most expensive film of all time, did well to open just outside the top 10 with $3m.
US box office chart, 10-12 July
1. Minions: $115.2m – New
2. Jurassic World: $18.1m, $590.6m
3. Inside Out: $17.1m, $283.6m
4. Terminator Genisys: $13.7m, $68.7m
5. The Gallows: $10m – New
6. Magic Mike XXL: $9.6m, $48.3m
7. Ted 2: $5.5m, $71.5m
8. Self/Less: $5.3m – New
9. Max: $3.4m, $33.7m
10. Spy: $3m, $103.4m
- This article was amended on Monday 13 July 2015. We incorrectly said that Minions took $124 million during its opening weekend in the US. In fact, it took $115.2 million. This has been corrected.
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