NORTH AMERICA: ‘Minions’ Captures $166.5M in Its First Week After $9.48M Thursday Take

Minions took in $9.48 million on Thursday to lead the daily box office for a seventh consecutive day. The blockbuster 3D computer animated spin-off from Universal and Illumination Entertainment was down a sharp 18 percent from Wednesday. Wide releases in general experienced sizable daily percentage declines yesterday due in part to the new competition from the Thursday evening launches of Disney’s Ant-Man and Universal’s Trainwreck. Minions took in a very strong $166.49 million during its first week of release. That is on the high end of the film’s lofty pre-release expectations and was just ahead of the $165.66 million seven-day start of 2013’s Despicable Me 2 (which opened on a Wednesday).

Fellow 3D computer animated release Inside Out held steady in second with $2.23 million. The blockbuster film from Disney and Pixar declined 14 percent form Wednesday and 47 percent from last Thursday. Inside Out placed in a distant second for the week with $28.17 million. That represented a 44 percent decline from the previous week and brings the film’s four-week total to a stronger than expected $294.70 million. Inside Out is now just $5.30 million away from reaching the $300 million domestic milestone and is set to surpass that mark over the weekend.

Universal’s Jurassic World grossed $1.94 million to remain in third place. The 3D sci-fi adventure blockbuster sequel was down 12 percent from Wednesday and down a solid 40 percent from last Thursday. Jurassic World took third place for the week with $27.24 million. The film was down 40 percent from the previous frame and is now on the verge of surpassing the $600 million domestic mark with a massive five-week take of $599.77 million.

Warner’s Magic Mike XXL was up one spot from Wednesday to place in fourth on Thursday with $1.27 million. The Channing Tatum led sequel fell 14 percent from Wednesday and 50 percent from last Thursday. Magic Mike XXL landed in fifth place for the week with $15.42 million. The film was down just 35 percent from the previous week, but in the bigger picture is still performing below expectations with a 16-day take of $54.14 million.

Paramount’s Terminator Genisys was down one spot to round our Thursday’s top five with $1.17 million. The Arnold Schwarzenegger led 3D sci-fi action sequel was down a very sharp 22.5 percent from Wednesday, as it took an especially hard hit from the Thursday evening launch of Ant-Man. Terminator Genisys was fourth for the week with $20.22 million. The film fell 49 from the previous frame and has grossed a softer than expected $75.24 million in 16 days.

Warner’s The Gallows and Focus’ Self/Less rounded out their first respective first weeks of release with daily grosses of $0.821 million and $0.483 million. The Gallows placed in sixth for the week with a modest seven-day start of $14.00 million, while Self/Less managed just $8.06 million in its first seven days. Both films should fade away from theatres very quickly.

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