minions
Comcast-owned Universal Pictures is set to continue its summer winning streak with the release of the animated family film "Minions." Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures' summer hot streak is still going! "Minions," the studio's latest film, opened at No. 1 in the U.S. this weekend, raking in an estimated $115.2 million, Box Office MoJo reported. The animated comedy has been out for two weeks in 26 territories, but it added 30 more this weekend and earned $124.3 million, which brought its international total to $280.5 million and its worldwide total to $395.7 million.

The "Despicable Me" spin-off had the second biggest opening of any animated film. It couldn't exceed the record set by 2007's "Shrek The Third," which opened to $121.6 million. The movie was made for $74 million, so Universal and Illumination Entertainment, who made it together, are both pretty happy this weekend.

"Minions" is the fourth movie of 2015 to earn more than $100 million in its opening weekend. The other movies were "Furious 7," "Jurassic World" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Of those four movies, Universal was behind all except Joss Whedon's follow-up to 2012's "Avengers." Universal is having a great summer; it reached $3 billion worldwide for the year last week, reaching the milestone in record time, breaking the record set by 20th Century Fox in October 2014.

Elsewhere this weekend, "The Gallows," an R-rated horror film, made an estimated $10 million at the domestic box office from 2,270 theaters. "Self/Less," which stars Ryan Reynolds, opened in 2,353 locations to a disappointing $5.4 million.

All of the families rushing to "Minions" hurt Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out," which won last weekend's box office, but fell 43 percent this weekend, earning only $17.1 million from 3,440 theaters. Now in its fourth weekend, "Inside Out" came in third place, right behind "Jurassic World," which grossed $18.1 million from 3,441 locations this weekend.

Also among the holdovers from weekends past was "Terminator: Genisys," which made $13.7 million in 3,783 locations. While its domestic box office performance was disappointing, the franchise found hope internationally. The movie grossed $47.3 million from 60 markets, which brings its foreign total to $156.1 million.

"Magic Mike XXL," which opened Fourth of July weekend, brought in $9.64 million from 3,376 locations. This was a 25 percent drop.

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