As most had expected, Monsters University stayed atop the US box office, taking another $46 million for a very healthy total so far of $171 million. Now all eyes will be seeing whether the film can stay strong once Despicable Me 2 is released on Friday.
The race for the new released was for the second spot, with The Heat taking the runners up position with a surprisingly strong $40 million opening weekend. That’s the top opening ever for Sandra Bullock and Paul Feig, and the highest for Melissa McCarthy in a starring role. Although it’s unlikely to top Feig’s Bridemaids in the long run, it undoubtedly got off to a good start.
Many had expected it to be a close race to the number two position between The Heat and White House Down, but in the end the former ran away with it. Roland Emmerich’s action movie ended up flopping with $25 million, with many suggesting the fact it came so close to the similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen and with a glut of male-oriented action movies in cinemas, there simply wasn’t room for the film.
It’s the second flop in a row for Sony Pictures following After Earth, which is causing a lot of unrest with the company’s shareholders. Indeed many are asking for the very variable film unit to be spun off into a separate company to it has less effect on the overall corporation.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of June 28th-30th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Monsters University | $46.1 | $171.0 |
| 2 | The Heat | $40.0 | $40.0 |
| 3 | World War Z | $29.8 | $123.7 |
| 4 | White House Down | $25.7 | $25.7 |
| 5 | Man Of Steel | $20.8 | $248.6 |
| 6 | This Is The End | $8.7 | $74.6 |
| 7 | Now You See Me | $5.5 | $104.6 |
| 8 | Fast & Furious 6 | $2.4 | $233.3 |
| 9 | Star Trek Into Darkness | $2.0 | $220.5 |
| 10 | The Internship | $1.4 | $41.7 |
As expected Monsters University topped the US box office, taking a strong $82 million in its first three days. That’s marks Pixar’s 14th straight film to top the box office, and it’s their second highest debut ever, behind only Toy Story 3. The film is also likely to hold up well in the coming weeks, becoming yet another big hit for the studio.
Warner/DC executives must have been nervous in the last few weeks, as they’d spent over $225 million on Man Of Steel, with the hope it would kick off an entire DC universe. They’ll be breathing a sigh on release as the movie has taken $125 million in its first four days, which is a June record at the US box office.
Box office watchers had been expecting The Internship to disappoint at the box office due to soft tracking, but few had thought The Purge would do as well as it did. While there were already rumbling it might have a chance of topping the box office, in the end it not only took the number one spot but did so with style, taking $36 million.
US audiences couldn’t get enough of movies over the Memorial Day holiday, but the box office came down to earth with a bump this weekend. While Fast & Furious 6 held onto the number 1 spot, it dropped nearly 65% from its opening to take $34.5 million. The Hangover Part II also dropped 60% in its second weekend, with $15.9 million and a sixth place finish.
Heading into the Memorial Day weekend, many box office watchers thought it would be a close race between Hangover Part III and Fast & Furious 6 as to who would come out on top. In the end, it’s the latter that streaked away, with $120 million in its first four days in US cinemas.
