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Magic Mike XXL underperforms at the box office

New York — July 4th went off like a dud at the box office. Anticipated new releases Magic Mike XXL and Terminator Genisys fizzled, leaving the popular holdovers Jurassic World and Inside Out to top the holiday weekend.

Despite the brawny enticements of Channing Tatum and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the four-week rule of Universal's dinosaur sensation Jurassic World continued with an estimated $30.9m, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Pixar's acclaimed Inside Out nearly caught up to the runaway dinos, taking in $30.1m in its third weekend of release.

The strength of those June hits and the unfortunate timing of July 4th this year coming on a Saturday (rather than stretching out a long weekend) meant the sequels Terminator Genisys and Magic Mike XXL both failed to match previous installments.

Paramount's Terminator Genisys, the fifth film in the series which also marks Schwarzenegger's return to his most iconic character, took in $28.7m over the weekend and $44.2m since opening Wednesday.

Warner Bros. also tried to expand the weekend, opening Tatum's male-stripper romp Magic Mike XXL on Wednesday. But after a strong start, the film managed just $12m over the weekend. Over five days it made $27.1m.

The openings were disappointing for the new releases, but each has a different makeup. Terminator Genisys, an attempted reboot in the 31-year-old, James Cameron-created franchise, was made for $155m. Magic Mike XXL, a road-trip sequel to Steven Soderbergh's 2012 hit original, was made for just under $15m.

Megan Colligan, head of worldwide distribution for Paramount, said the weekend simply didn't play like a holiday weekend.

"The weekend got off to a very sluggish start because people didn't have off until Friday," said Colligan. "Our start was just not where it needed to be. Some of that does have to do with it is pretty severe competition. Jurassic is still such a powerhouse in the marketplace and it was hard to anticipate that that wouldn't have burned off a little more by now."

Genisys failed to come close to the previous Terminator film, the Schwarzenegger-less Salvation, which had a five-day debut of $65.3m over Memorial Day weekend in 2009. Genisys, which critics have slammed, is finding better business abroad. It made $74m international over the weekend.

Magic Mike XXL, however, had the benefit of largely positive reviews and tracking numbers that suggested a possible No. 1 opening of more than $40m. The original debuted with $39.1m.

But Magic Mike XXL failed to expand its audience. Whereas moviegoers for the first film were 73% female, Magic Mike XXL was a staggering 96% female, Warner Bros. said.

Universal's animated off-shoot sequel Minions will debut next weekend after a strong international performance. The film, which gives the pipsqueak henchmen of the Despicable Me movies the spotlight, has already grossed $124.2m abroad, including $54.3m this weekend.

(Gif: giphy)

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