Jurassic World Hits $500 Million in Weekend Box Office Battle

June came to a close with another strong weekend at the box office that saw another fierce battle between two movies. Unfortunately for Universal Pictures, Seth MacFarlane’s comedy sequel Ted 2 wasn’t one of them.  

Instead, June’s two box office juggernauts, Universal’s  Jurassic World and Disney•Pixar’s Inside Out, had a heated battle for the top spot after an unprecedented weekend where both movies grossed more than $90 million. 

Ultimately, Jurassic World won the weekend as it grossed another $54.2 million (estimated) over the weekend, becoming the fastest movie to reach $500 million domestically over any previous movie including previous record holder Marvel’s The Avengers. It’s also only the fifth movie ever to achieve that $500 million benchmark domestically, having now surpassed the original Star Wars and the prequel Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (not accounting for inflation). 

Directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson and Nick Robinson, Jurassic World has proven to be the biggest breakout hit of the summer as it also has become the #1 highest-grossing movie of the year, at least domestically, which most thought would be held by Avengers: Age of Ultron, at least for the summer.

Despite holding the records for biggest opening and second weekends, Jurassic World might have to settle for those two milestones, since there’s no way it will surpass Avatar‘s $68 million record third weekend even if its actual weekend gross ends up being higher than reported estimates.

Internationally, Jurassic World grossed another $82.5 million 66 territories to bring its overseas total to $737.5 million with China claiming $201 million of that amount. It has grossed more overseas than the $640 million earned by Jurassic Park globally over its entire run (including the recent 3D rerelease.) Jurassic World has reached $1.2 billion worldwide with Japan still to open in August, but it’s well on its way to becoming Universal’s second movie of the year to take in more than $1.5 billion globally after April’s Furious 7. 

That meant that Pete Docter’s animated Inside Out would take second place, holding on well with $52.1 million, down just 43% from its astounding opening weekend – Disney•Pixar’s second-biggest opening ever. It has grossed $185 million in just ten days, which means that it’s on its way to another box office record, the bittersweet and slightly-less glamorous highest-grossing movie to never reach #1, previously held by Big Fat Greek Wedding with $241.4 million.  

Inside Out grossed another $26.4 million overseas this weekend in 44% of its global release to bring its international total to $81.5 million and its global take to $266.4 million with a lot of territories where it still has to open.

That left third place for Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2, which far underwhelmed expectations as the sequel to the 2012 comedy that grossed $550 million worldwide ($219 million of that domestically). Reuniting MacFarlane’s talking teddie with Mark Wahlberg and others from the hit comedy while bringing in Amanda Seyfried, Morgan Freeman and others didn’t help much, as it opened with just $13.2 million on Friday (including $2.6 million in Thursday previews), just below both of the returning movies.

Ted 2 ended up with an estimated $32.9 million gross for the weekend in 3,442 theaters, averaging about $9,500 per theater. That’s more than $20 million lower than the opening of the original Ted three years ago, which is never a good thing because it means that MacFarlane’s fans, as much as they liked Ted, didn’t feel the need for a sequel. (Ironically, its plot mimicked the fight for marriage equality that’s been a big issue in the United States and was resolved by the Supreme Court on Friday just as Ted 2 was opening.)

Offered as counter-programming to the foul-mouthed bear was Warner Bros.’ family adventure about the canine hero Max, co-starring humans Josh Wiggins, Lauren Graham, Robbie Amell and Thomas Haden Church, which opened in fourth place with $12.2 million in 2,855 theaters, averaging $4,277 per location.

20th Century Fox’s action comedy Spy, reuniting Bridesmaids director Paul Feig with Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne, dropped to fifth place with $7.8 million, down 26%, as its domestic gross reached $88 million in four weekends.

In sixth place, Warner Bros. disaster flick San Andreas starring Dwayne Johnson continued to do decent business with $5.3 million (down 36%) in its fifth weekend to bring its domestic total to $141.9 million. 

Rick Famuyiwa’s urban coming-of-age comedy Dope (Open Road) took a massive plunge in its second weekend (after losing 150 theaters), dropping to seventh place with $2.9 million (down 52% from its opening). It has grossed $11.8 million so far. 

The roughly $172.7 million grossed by the top 10 this weekend is slightly higher than the same weekend last year when Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction (also starring Mark Wahlberg) won the weekend with a $100 million opening weekend. 

Opening in limited release was the excellent documentary Batkid Begins, which debuted in just four theaters in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but failed to find much of an audience against the bigger blockbusters, taking in just $23,000, or $5,865 per theater.