The Weekend Report: Inside Out Eeks Out a Win During the Slow Holiday Weekend

In which I run down the big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Despite shaping up to be a dynamite weekend at the box office, nothing much ultimately came of this weekend's two new releases: Terminator Genisys (a review of which will be up shortly) and Magic Mike XXL.  Both franchise's hoards of fans chose barbecues and fireworks over retreads of ultimately better movies (despite how impressive one of these two actually was to see).

Although easily the best of the two big releases this weekend, Terminator Genisys massively underperformed in a third place debut.  Don't let its disappointing numbers fool you, however: it's the best Terminator movie that we've seen since Judgment Day, and an easy pick for third best of the entire franchise.

Although the movie is obviously trying to undo its tangled, future-stranded continuity with a massive jolt to the time stream to allow for any number of future sequels Days of Future Past style, it refreshingly does so while remembering what made the original the classic that it is today.  Sure, time travel reboots might be a tired cliche by this point, but the concept is so deeply rooted in Terminator's narrative DNA that you can't help but give it a free pass on this one, especially when it pulls it off so incredibly well.

There are exceedingly few movies that I want to see fail.  Even if I don't like a movie, I generally want it to give its competition as much trouble as it can.  That's what makes these rankings exciting, after all.

Magic Mike XXL, however, is a rare exception.  Expect to see Becky's review this sequel to the 2012 hit later this week.  You can further expect to see my thoughts of it up shortly thereafter.  Let it suffice to say that whatever magic the first movie stumbled upon was lost when Warner Bros decided that what we really needed was a second Fifty Shades of Grey to hit theaters this year.

Although not the kind of movie that I'm generally interested in, the word of mouth for this rom-com about a reluctant friendship between a boy and his cancerous classmate is ultimately encouraging.  While it does strike me as a bit too similar to the saccharine The Fault in Our Stars, its relatively strong opening weekend will ensure a space for more "serious" teen-centered movies in the future.

What's really going to be interesting to see is if this weekend's numbers are so low purely because of the holiday weekend, or because Terminator Genisys and Magic Mike XXL failed to resonate with movie-goers in general.  I wouldn't be all that surprised if both movies' numbers improve next weekend when the party-goers who missed it over the 4th decide to make up for lost time.

Box Office Rankings

1)  Inside Out - $29.7m

2) Jurassic World -  $29.2m

3) Terminator Genisys - $27m
4) Magic Mike XXL- $12.8m

5) Ted 2 - $11.1m
6) Max - $6.6m
7) Spy - $5.1m

8)  San Andreas - $2.8m
9)  Me, Earl and the Dying Girl - $1.2m
10)  Dope - $1.1m

So did you bother to see a movie in theaters this weekend?  If so, what did you go to see?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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