JUN 21-23 BOX OFFICE REPORT - MONSTERS AND ZOMBIES TAKE OVER

A busy weekend at the domestic box office, with both major new releases performing either to or significantly above expectations. Monsters University claimed the top spot, with Pixar's second-highest opening of all time, $82.4 million, although it did sell fewer tickets than Monsters, Inc. in 2011. The bigger stories lie in second and third place though: World War Z banished all the negative Internet speculation, mostly centred around the film's exceptionally troubled, expensive shoot, with a $66.4 million start - that's the second-highest second place debut of all time, and the highest start for any Brad Pitt film. Against such strong competition, last weekend's record-breaking first place Man of Steel fell straight back down to Earth, losing 61.6% of its gross with $41.3 million.

Among holdovers, it was a mixed bag, but still strong enough to make this weekend's box office the eighth-strongest of all time. This Is the End and Now You See Me both had small drops due to decent word-of-mouth, while The Purge and The Internship continued to plummet. The Bling Ring and Much Ado About Nothing were expanded to small nationwide / moderate theatre counts and saw their grosses rocket as a result. Limited releases were few, with soft starts for A Hijacking, The Attack and Maniac.

The Winner / Highest Opener / Top Per-Theatre Average: Monsters University ($82,429,469 / $20,587)

Box Office Mojo has the stats in full.