Despite a strong opening night, Inside Out will likely not topple current box office king Jurassic World this weekend.
With an estimated $34 million on opening night, Inside Out claimed the top spot on Friday . But industry executives still expect Jurassic World , the fourth installment in the Jurassic series , to win the weekend. Studios expect Jurassic World to bring in over $100 million over the course of the weekend, and Inside Out is expected to claim around $90 million. Pixar movies of late have been bringing in between $60-$80 million on opening weekend.
Assuming the estimations are correct and Inside Out – a Pixar film that stars Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, and Phyllis Smith as the voices of human emotions – does not topple Jurassic World , it will be the first time a Pixar title did not claim the top spot on opening weekend in its history. But Inside Out has received rave reviews from critics, and is expected to have a long run in theaters, which will likely help it to bring in just as much, if not more, than the usual Pixar film.
Rotten Tomatoes is currently showing a 98 percent fresh rating for Inside Out (which is a good thing, just to be clear), compared to a 71 percent rating for Jurassic World . But ratings aren’t everything, as evidenced by The Spy , which stars Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham. It scored a 95 percent according to Rotten Tomatoes, but in the two weeks since its release, it has only brought in $15.6 million.
On Thursday night preview or midnight showings, Inside Out brought in $3.7 million, which marks the best performance ever for not only a Pixar film, but for a Disney animated film as well.
Also new this week is the film Dope , the darling of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which brought in $2.4 million Friday.
Jurassic World set a U.S. opening weekend record with $208.8 million, and continued to perform well throughout the week, climbing to $296 million through Thursday. It was the fastest movie ever to reach $300 million domestically. Jurassic World could even challenge 2012’s The Avengers for the second weekend record of $103 million.
Heading into this weekend, The Avengers: Age of Ultron had grossed $444.78 million domestically, leading the pack of movies still in theaters. Furious 7 , still running in a few hundred theaters, sits at $350.83 million. Inside Out’s strong opening puts it ahead of the majority of films still in theaters today, while Jurassic World could take the overall lead this weekend.
[Image via Chicago Tribune ]
