

With one of the highest animated debuts of all time, Minions took in a fantastic $115M debut, further reiterating just how popular the Despicable brand is.

There’s a few reasons why Minions was able to have such a strong debut even coming out just a few weeks after Inside Out; for one, it hasn’t been too long since Despicable Me 2, meaning it was able to strike while the iron is still hot. That and the minions themselves have had such agressive marketing that they have basically come into every facet of society. What’s odd about its debut is that it was extremely front loaded for an animated film; just over 40% of its debut came from Friday, though that isn’t terribly surprising. Many of the biggest kids movies come out in May or June when school is still going, meaning many kids will see them on Saturday. With a mid July debut, however, families and kids could easily make matinees. The demand was obviously high, meaning it will probably see some very sharp drops over the next few weekends. Still, it should easily pass $300M. Overseas is the real story though, as its up to $395M worldwide after just a few weeks.

Micro budget horror film The Gallows took in $10.2M this weekend. While that doesn’t sound great, it’s technically one of the melt profitable debuts ever. With a budget of just $100K, it made more than one hundred times its budget. It received a poor C on Cinemascore, meaning it probably will top out just over $20M.

Low budget scifi thriller Self/Less took in around $5M this weekend, a mediocre start for the $26M flick. It was panned by critics, which likely didn’t help, but received a decent B+ on Cinemascore.

Even though it took longer than expected, Spy crossed the $100M mark domestic this weekend thanks to excellent reviews and word of mouth. It’s also made over $200M worldwide, making it a solid success for the $65M comedy.

Jurassic World managed to squeak past Inside Out with $18M and $17M respectively. Those are both solid holds given the competition, showing how strong word of mouth is for both of them.

Terminator Genisys fell to $13M this weekend which was actually an okay hold. That’s much better than The Lone Ranger, which fell well over 60% in its second weekend. Even with disappointing domestic performance, it has saved face overseas, where its current worldwide total is already over $220M. If it continues to do well, it has a shot at becoming profitable in a few weeks.