Never underestimate Pixar. Everyone’s favorite animation studio that hasn’t made a film about raccoons with weaponized testicles scored its 15th consecutive hit this weekend, continuing a 20-year winning streak of delighting kids and shattering the hearts of their parents. But Inside Out did even better than everyone expected it to do; its $91-million opening in the States is the second biggest bow in Pixar history, behind only Toy Story 3. It’s also the biggest opening weekend ever for an original property, besting even the first few days of the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar. Apparently, audiences are willing to invest in the fate of brand new characters, provided at least one of them is blue. They’re also willing, it would seem, to pay top dollar to have their tear ducts drained dry.
Did great reviews help Inside Out exceed projections? (Box Office Mojo predicted “only” $71 million, which was among the more optimistic estimates.) The near-universal praise the film has earned (even Armond White kind of likes it) might have eased any fears grown-up guardians had about the quasi-abstract nature of the plot. They weren’t enough, though, to push Inside Out into the top position on the box-office charts: Amazingly, the film’s nearly nine-digit haul still put it a few million behind Jurassic World, which continued to rampage its way across the globe, devouring records. In the U.S., the sequel made another $102 million—the second-best second weekend ever, behind the first Avengers. Internationally, Jurassic World is poised to soon surpass this year’s Furious 7 in the race for fastest climb to a billion in worldwide ticket sales. Sorry Vin, but that T. Rex in the rearview mirror is closer than it appears.
Next to these box-office behemoths, the week’s new indie releases looked small enough to fit inside the brain of a preteen girl—or to be swallowed whole by some kind of prehistoric sea lizard. The big fish in that much smaller pond was Dope, which actually did pretty incredible business for a film of its scale; landing in fifth place with an impressive $6 million, the Sundance favorite performed much better than another Sundance favorite, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, which has made just $645,000 in two weeks, maybe because reviews haven’t been universally ecstatic. (Fox Searchlight, who is said to have paid more than $10 million for the Park City prizewinner, may be drawing up walking papers for some unlucky festival attendees on the company payroll.) Otherwise, it was a quiet three days for The Overnight ($62,000), Infinitely Polar Bear ($47,000), Eden ($20,000), and Manglehorn ($13,000)—all mere drops of water in a bucket of Pixar-wrung tears and Jurassic dino drool.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.