Weekend Box Office: June 28-30

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Monsters University - $46.1 million

2.  The Heat - $40 million

3.  World War Z - $29.8 million

4.  White House Down - $25.7 million

5.  Man of Steel - $20.8 million

6.  This Is The End - $8.7 million

7.  Now You See Me - $5.5 million

8.  Fast & Furious 6 - $2.4 million

9.  Star Trek Into Darkness - $2 million

10.  The Internship - $1.4 million

At the box office this weekend, we learned that Pixar and Melissa McCarthy can do no wrong, that reports of Superman's demise were greatly exaggerated, and that one White House-siege movie per year is probably enough.

In the top spot again was Monsters University, which earned a healthy $46.1 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $171 million.  This is especially good news for Pixar, as not only will the prequel continue their streak of films earning more than $200 million at the box office, it will likely get there by the time Despicable Me 2 invades theaters over the upcoming holiday weekend.

So what do you get if you team up Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in an R-rated buddy cop comedy?  Lots of people show up to see it.  The Heat comes in second this weekend with an estimated $40 million, which is the highest opening weekend for both of the film's leading ladies.  Fox, which produced The Heat, reports that women made up 65% of the audience for the film this weekend.  With little R-rated comedy competition standing in its way amongst the minions, monsters, robots, superheroes, and Lone Rangers taking over the box office in the next few weeks, this should continue to play well for awhile. 

Remember how the over-budgeted, problem-plagued, the whole-ending-had-to-be-reshot World War Z was going to be a great big flop that we were all going to laugh over?  Well, that didn't happen.  Although it dropped around 55% in its second weekend, the zombie adventure still earned a solid $29.8 million, passed the $100 million mark, and could possibly surpass Mr. & Mrs. Smith as Brad Pitt's highest-grossing film.  Whether or not it will earn back that impossibly inflated budget is another story, but it does appear a lot of people like this movie.  Go figure.

Lost somewhere amidst the box office totals was White House Down, which really did get lost in theaters with just $25.7 million.  Blame it on poor scheduling, poor marketing, and the simple fact that Olympus Has Fallen, another White House takeover film, was just in theaters a few months ago and did quite well (and still in theaters - it ranked 29th this weekend).  Even Channing Tatum couldn't save it from that.

Man of Steel, which looked to be on shaky ground after a cringeworthy drop last weekend, seems to have found its footing, earning an excellent $20.8 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total up to $248 million.  That $300 million is still a ways off, but its entirely possible it could still happen.  He is Superman, after all.

Next weekend gets to an early start, with Despicable Me 2 and Disney's The Lone Ranger taking advantage of the July 4th weekend by opening on Wednesday.  Despicable Me 2 should easily dominate, but it will be an interesting weekend at the box office nonetheless.