Box Office: 'Minions' Rule with $115M Debut

1. Minions- $115.2M
Proving that the Minions are perfectly capable on their own, their titular Despicable Me spinoff opened to a mind-blowing $115M, the second biggest ever for an animated film, trailing only Shrek the Third's $121M. It's an interesting film in that Minions is a prequel, but it scored numbers that are the biggest of the franchise by a wide margin. This is also the largest opening weekend for voice star Sandra Bullock, which is no small feat. The question now is how Despicable Me plays off of this. Will it do even better? Or is it true that people are more interested in the minions than Gru and his adventures?
2. Jurassic World- $18.1M/$590.6M
3. Inside Out- $17.1M/$283.6M
4. Terminator Genisys- $13.7/$68.7M
While it looks like Terminator Genisys will struggle to hit $100M domestic, it has earned $224M worldwide which isn't too awful. Still, these numbers don't inspire much confidence in seeing the planned trilogy through.
5. The Gallows- $10M
Another cheapie found horror from the folks at Blumhouse, The Gallows has endured some truly crushing reviews to earn its $10M opening weekend. Considering it cost practically nothing and has no stars anyone would recognize, this result should make everybody happy.
6. Magic Mike XXL- $9.6M/$48.3M
7. Ted 2- $5.6M/$71.6M
8. Self/Less- $5.3M
Ryan Reynolds may have been the star of Comic-Con with the Deadpool trailer everyone fell in love with (including me), but until that film comes out his career is still floundering. His latest film, the body-swapping sci-fi movie Self/Less, opened weakly with $5.3M. Co-starring Ben Kingsley and directed by the visual maestro Tarsem Singh, the film received awful reviews (I thought it was okay) and never seemed to have a solid marketing angle. This marks a low for Singh, as well, which is interesting since it is also his least interesting film from a visual standpoint.
9. Baahhubali: The Beginning- $3.5M
10. Max- $3.4M/$33.7M

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*UPDATE* Box Office: 'Terminator Genisys', 'Magic Mike XXL' Off to Slow Starts

*UPDATE* Turns out Pixar's Inside Out narrowly beat Jurassic World last weekend, taking #1 for the first time since it opened. The updated numbers are below:

1. Inside Out- $29.7/$245.8M
2. Jurassic World- $29.2M/$556.5M
3. Terminator Genisys (review here)- $28.7M/$44.1M
Well, he said he'd be back, but Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't bring Terminator Genisys up to the franchise's box office standards. The fifth film in the sci-fi series James Cameron built opened to $44.1M over the five-day holiday weekend, and $28.7M from Friday-thru-Sunday. Given the terrible reviews and mediocre box office, it unfortunately lands in the same territory as 2009's Terminaor Salvation, a failed reboot remembered only for Christian Bale's on-set tantrums.'Genisys' has had problems basically from the start, though, especially in the marketing department. Fans were upset that a major plot point was spoiled so casually, while others have balked at the storyline which twists the classic narrative. Even more were against the casting of just about everybody except for Schwarzenegger. On the bright side, foreign markets tend to be really kind to Terminator movies, and this one's no different with $85.5M earned overseas so far. But on the other hand, this is the July 4th weekend which tends to be huge for blockbuster debuts, and that didn't happen here. So what happens now? The plan was for this to be the kickoff to a new trilogy and accompanying TV series, but obviously those plans have to be in doubt.
4. Magic Mike XXL (review here)- $11.6M/$26.6M
The first Magic Mike film was essentially a low-budget indie, directed by Steven Soderbergh and costing only $7M, but it had a cast of superstars that led it to a blockbuster performance. The film ended with $167M, powered by the muscled frames of Matthew McConaughy, Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello and more. The sequel, Magic Mike XXL, isn't going to come close to those numbers, but it doesn't really need to. It scored $27M since the Wednesday opening, but it only cost $14M so who cares? There are a couple of obvious reasons for the downturn. First of all, both Jurassic World and Inside Out maintained their dominance this week, and the arrival of Terminator Genisys didn't help. Second: the first film played almost exclusively to women, which explains why they made up 96% of the sequel's audience. The sad thing is, Magic Mike XXL is more of a guys' flick with road trips and silly shenanigans and hot women. Considering how inexpensive these movies are it wouldn't be a surprise to get Magic Mike 3: Strippers Take Manhattan or something along those lines.
5. Ted 2- $11M/$58.3M
6. Max- $6.6M/$25.3M
7. Spy- $5.5M/$97.8M
8. San Andreas- $3M/$147.3M
9. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl- $1.3M/$4M
10. Dope- $1M/$14.1M

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Interview: Boaz Yakin and Josh Wiggins Talk Military Dog Drama, 'Max'

I had never met Boaz Yakin before interviewing him for his new film, Max, but his name was mentioned plenty of times around my household. One of Yakin's earlier movies was Remember the Titans, the high school football drama based on a real-life team; one that my father happened to be a key player on. So my Dad was there during much of the production and talked about the experience quite often.

Max is a completely different kind of film, but still one that should appeal to families looking for an evening out. The story centers on a military Marine dog named Max who can no longer serve after his partner is killed in action. The traumatized Max is taken in by the family of his former commander, forging a bond with the soldier's rebellious son, played by Hellion star Josh Wiggins.

I had a chance to sit down and speak with both Yakin and Wiggins about Max; what it was like to tell this specific military story, working with animals on set, and more. Plus I got to meet Jagger, one of the five dogs who played Max in the film.  You can listen to that interview below.

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Box Office: 'Jurassic World' Remains on Top; 'Ted 2' Bears with $33M Debut

1. Jurassic World- 54.2M/$500M
In its third week Jurassic World continues to trample the competition with an amazing $54M and hitting the $500M in blazing fashion. At this number it has now surpassed Avengers: Age of Ultron to be the top domestic film of 2015, and is now 8th worldwide all-time with $1.238B. Wow.
2. Inside Out- $52.1M/$184.9M
While Pixar's Inside Out may never hit #1 in the weekly box office race, its overall numbers are the best the studio has had since Toy Story 3.  The imaginative journey through a young girl's mind earned $52M and slipped only 42%, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
3. Ted 2 (review here)- $33M
Maybe it's a matter of outsized competition like Jurassic World and Inside Out, but Seth MacFarlane's Ted 2 opened with a relatively modest $33M, well off the $54M pace set by the original. The first film broke $500M and was the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy ever, which was a mountain nobody expected this one to climb. Perhaps audiences were just plain over it; the novelty of a crude, pot-smoking bear is fun for awhile but hardly the stuff of franchises. Whatever the case, the film isn't performing as strong as some would have thought, but at a cost of only $68M it certainly won't be a flop, and it could still prove to be huge overseas just as the prior one was.
4. Max- $12.2M
The family-friendly canine drama Max sunk its teeth into a solid $12.2M debut, not bad for a film surrounded by blockbusters. Perhaps its still capitalizing on the good will inspired by American Sniper, as there are similar thematic parallels dealing with PTSD, only in this case it has to do with a military dog whose handler is killed in Afghanistan. All of this is decent news for a $20M production with no big name stars. Then again it did have one cool-looking soldier dog gracing the posters so that might have helped.
5. Spy- $7.8M/$88.3M
6. San Andreas- $5.2M/$141.8M
7. Dope- $2.8M/$11.7M
The interesting thing about Dope is that everybody loves it; the reviews out of Sundance were phenomenal, and the marketing has been all over the place. You can't turn on a TV without an ad for Dope turning up, pushing the urban summer comedy. And yet its numbers are only average, possibly due to all of the money being sucked up by bigger films. Perhaps a later release, closer to the tail end of summer, would have helped.
8. Mad Max: Fury Road- $1.7M/$147M
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron- $1.6M/$452M
10. Pitch Perfect 2- $1.3M/$180.9M

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Free Advance Screening 'Max'

We're happy to offer our DC readers a chance to attend a free advance screening of Max, the family action adventure from Remember the Titans director, Boaz Yakin. The inspiring story centers on Max, the precision-trained military dog serving on the frontlines in Afghanistan alongside his handler, U.S. Marine Kyle Wincott. But when things go terribly wrong on maneuvers, Kyle is mortally wounded and Max, traumatized by the loss of his best friend, is unable to remain in service.

The screening takes place on Monday, June 22nd at 7:30pm at AMC Georgetown. If you're interested in attending, simply go here and download one Admit-Two pass to the event. Please remember that all screenings are first come served and you will need to arrive early to ensure entry.

Enjoy the show!

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New Posters for 'Jurassic World', 'Max', 'Irrational Man', and 'Point Break'

With analysts projecting a $100M+ opening weekend for Jurassic World, Universal has to be happy with the fourth chapter of their dinosaur franchise. It should prove to do just as well globally because dinosaurs are pretty much popular everywhere, which is why we have this new Chinese poster. The film features an all-new cast (with the exception of BD Wong) led by Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Omar Sy, Jake Johnson, Nick Robinson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan, and more, with Colin Trevorrow directing. Jurassic World opens June 12th.

Following on the heels of Memorial Day, we have the patriotic new poster for Max, the inspirational story of a military dog whose handler is killed in Afghanistan. The traumatized canine returns to America where he is adopted by the soldier's family and helps change the life of his troubled 14-year-old brother. "From the director of Remember the Titans and producer of Marley & Me" is all you probably need to know beyond that. Josh Wiggins, Thomas Haden Church, and Lauren Graham star, with the film opening on June 26th. Check out the trailer for it here.

Joaquin Phoenix is an Irrational Man wandering the beach on the poster for Woody Allen's upcoming film. It stars Phoenix as a college professor who is in the fortunate position of having Emma Stone and Parker Posey chasing after him. So what's he being so darned irrational about? Irrational Man hits theaters on July 17th.

And finally, take to the skies with the new poster for Point Break, a remake of the classic bro flick about an FBI agent who goes undercover with a group of bank robbers and extreme sports enthusiasts. This one stars Edgar Ramirez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone, and Teresa Palmer, but essentially follows the same plot as the original with a few more extreme sports thrown in for good measure. Directed by Ericson Core, Point Break opens Christmas Day.

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First Trailer for Military Dog Drama 'Max' Tugs at the Heartstrings

No, Max isn't some kind of prequel to Mad Max ("See Max before he became Mad!!!"), it's an inspirational story about a soldier and his dog. Sounding like one of those heartwarming character pieces local news outlets salivate over, the film centers on a military dog whose handler is killed in Afghanistan. The traumatized dog returns to America where he is adopted by the soldier's family and helps change the life of his troubled 14-year-old brother. Nobody said PTSD was limited to humans, right?

Max is directed by Boaz Yakin, who knows about heartwarming material as the director of Disney's Remember the Titans. Josh Wiggins (Hellion), Thomas Haden Church, Luke Kleintank, Robbie Amell (The DUFF), Lauren Graham, and Jay Hernandez co-star. Dog lovers, especially those with family in the armed services, are probably going to find that trailer hits them right in the sweet spot.

I'm a cat guy, so mostly it just made me shrug with indifference.

Max hits theaters on June 26th.

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