Why 'Terminator Genisys' and 'Magic Mike XXL' underperformed at the box office
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
鈥淛urassic World鈥� and 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� two films that had opened in June, triumphed at the box office over the Fourth of July, while the two major new films in release, 鈥淭erminator Genisys鈥� and 鈥淢agic Mike XXL,鈥� couldn鈥檛 beat the dinosaur and Pixar movies.聽
鈥淛urassic鈥� won the weekend with a gross of $30.9 million. What was right behind it? Not 鈥淭erminator鈥� and or 鈥淢ike鈥� 鈥� the Pixar movie 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� which opened on June 19, the week after 鈥淛urassic,鈥� came in second with a gross of $30.1 million. 鈥淭erminator鈥� came in at number three, behind both of those movies with a gross of $28.7 million, while 鈥淢ike鈥� was fourth with $12 million.聽
By comparison, 鈥淛urassic,鈥� which has become a major box office hit, opened with more than $208 million in its first weekend.聽
The disappointing performance of the two new movies somewhat echoes last year鈥檚 box office, in which the new movies, the Melissa McCarthy comedy 鈥淭ammy鈥� and the animated film 鈥淓arth to Echo,鈥� did okay but not great. This year is an improvement, though 鈥� last year鈥檚 holiday weekend was the worst at the domestic box office in decades when industry watchers adjusted for inflation.聽
So what accounts for the low performance of the two new films "Terminator" and "Mike"? 鈥淭erminator鈥� franchise fans may have felt burned by the last installment, 2009鈥檚 鈥淭erminator Salvation,鈥� which starred 海角大神 Bale and received mostly negative reviews. If fans felt cautious and decided to wait for reviews of 鈥淕enisys,鈥� they didn鈥檛 find new hope there 鈥� 鈥淕enisys鈥� has received even worse reviews than 鈥淪alvation.鈥澛�
As for 鈥淢ike,鈥� the answer to its disappointing box office could be simply that its audience was elsewhere for the rest of the weekend after its Wednesday opening. The first 鈥淢agic Mike鈥� opened on June 29, a run-of-the-mill summer weekend. Those wanting to make a night of it and see 鈥淢agic Mike XXL鈥� most likely had other events like fireworks or barbecues over the weekend and moviegoers may have decided to wait until a future weekend to go check out the film.
In addition, if parents wanted to get kids out of the house and into some air-conditioning at a movie theater, both 鈥淛urassic鈥� and 鈥淚nside Out鈥� may have been viewed as more family-friendly than 鈥淭erminator鈥� or certainly 鈥淢ike.鈥澛�
Perhaps the performance of 鈥淭erminator鈥� and 鈥淢ike鈥� will pick up over coming weekends, but for now, dinosaurs and Pixar still rule the box office.
