By Ben Fritz
Proving that box office sometimes isn't a zero-sum game, the
animated "Inside Out" posted a fantastic opening this weekend
despite not being the most popular film in the country.
The latest release from Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar Animation
Studios brought in an estimated $91.1 million in the U.S. and
Canada from Thursday night through Sunday. That is by far the
biggest opening for a movie that wasn't No. 1 at the box office,
beating the record of $68.7 million set by James Bond film "The Day
After Tomorrow" in 2004, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
It came in just short of a spectacular second weekend for
"Jurassic World." The dinosaur sequel from Comcast Corp.'s
Universal Pictures retained its dominance in theaters by grossing
$102 million in the U.S. and Canada, following it record breaking
opening last weekend.
Although it is rated PG-13, "Jurassic World" has been drawing
plenty of families, while Disney was targeting adults as well as
children for "Inside Out." That seemed to put the two movies in a
competitive situation, leading many in Hollywood to assume one
would prosper at the other's expense this weekend.
Few expected that both movies could perform so well
simultaneously. It was the first time ever that two movies grossed
more than $70 million on the same weekend, according to
Rentrak.
"Coming into this weekend, we were considerate of what impact
'Jurassic' could have," said Disney executive vice president of
distribution Dave Hollis. "But I think you could argue that the
experience of people having a great experience in full cinemas is
what encouraged them to return."
"Inside Out" enjoyed the second best opening for a Pixar movie,
behind only "Toy Story 3." The movie's success seems to have been
driven by the strength of the Pixar brand and the rapturous
responses of critics and audiences. A full 98% of reviews were
positive, according to the aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, and
opening night crowds gave the movie an average grade of A,
according to market research firm CinemaScore.
Such strong audience responses should help the big-budget
animated feature, about the conflicting emotions inside an
11-year-old girl's brain, to have a long and lucrative box office
run for Disney, which had a rare flop recently with
"Tomorrowland."
Opening in 37 foreign markets so far, "Inside Out" picked up a
healthy $41 million, with particularly strong starts in Mexico and
Russia.
"Jurassic World," meanwhile, had the second-biggest domestic
second weekend of all time, just slightly behind "The Avengers'"
$103.1 million.
It is on track for one of the best box-office performances of
all time. With a total of $398.2 million so far in the U.S. and
Canada and $583.1 million overseas, it is close to $1 billion
world-wide already.
It may ultimately gross more than $600 million domestically and
$1.5 billion globally--possibly surpassing "Avengers" for the No. 3
all-time ranking in both categories, behind only "Titanic" and
"Avatar."
It is already certain to be hugely profitable for Universal and
its financing partner, Legendary Pictures LLC.
The only other movie to open nationwide this weekend was "Dope,"
a teen comedy that was a high-profile pickup from the Sundance Film
Festival by Open Road Films. It made its debut to a modest $6
million.
Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com
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