The dinosaurs of Jurassic World stayed atop the cinematic food chain this weekend, snapping up another $54.5-million (R666,3m) to keep Pixar’sInside Out in second place at the North American box office, figures showed on Monday.
Jurassic World completed its third weekend in US and Canadian cinemas with an overall haul of $500m, shattering US and worldwide records, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
The fourth film in the popular Jurassic Park series, Jurassic World returns to the island featured in the first instalment. It follows an experiment to create an especially mean dinosaur and, unsurprisingly, things quickly go awry.
The film just bested Inside Out, the well-received animated tale depicting the emotions inside the mind of a young girl, which pulled in another $52,3m in its second week.
The movie – which is generating major Oscar buzz – has so far taken in $185m in North America.
Ted 2, the sequel to Seth MacFarlane’s 2012 hugely successful comedy starring Mark Wahlberg about an anti-social slacker teddy bear that comes to life, opened in third place at $33,5m.
Another new film, Max, about a boy who adopts an ex-military dog that had served in Afghanistan, opened in fourth place with $12,2m, despite scathing reviews and a low 38 percent critics’ approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Comedy Spy grabbed $7,9m in ticket sales for the fifth spot. The film follows a CIA analyst (Melissa McCarthy) who leaves her desk job to go deep undercover to avenge her former partner (Jude Law).
Earthquake thriller San Andreas starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took home $5,4m for sixth spot. Coming-of-age film Dope came in seventh place with $2,8m.
The prequel and third iteration of the Insidious supernatural horror films, Insidious: Chapter 3, got $2m in sales for the eighth spot.
Dystopian action flick Mad Max: Fury Road starring Charlize Theron got $1,8m in ticket sales for the ninth spot.
Rounding out the top 10 was Avengers: Age of Ultron, which pulled in another $1,7m, bringing its total haul to $452,5m since its official US release early last month.