The studio hit $1B, then $2B and now $3B in record time. Universal just keeps taking bites out of box office records domestically, internationally and worldwide. Driven by a plethora of hits — from Fifty Shades Of Grey and Furious 7 to Jurassic World and Minions — Universal Pictures 
International has just jumped past the $3B milestone, becoming the fastest of any studio to do that. Furious 7 and Jurassic World handed UPI two-thirds of that gross. It also marks the first time in its 103-year history that Universal has reached that height at the international box office.
The hits are expected to keep coming for the studio with Judd Apatow’s next comedy Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader, which bows in two weeks, and F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton, which arrives August 14. And then … expect a bit of a breather from the studio.
Now, let’s look at the lineup UPI has had: Fifty Shades Of Grey ($403.6 million internationally), Fast & Furious 7 ($1.16 billion), Pitch Perfect 2 ($96.6 million), Jurassic World ($843.9 million and counting) and early results in 26 international territories from Minions ($141.7 million).
Now for the records — though they are seriously too numerous to count: Because of Jurassic World, Universal was able to have bragging rights to the quickest climb to $1B domestic — beating the previous record ascendance achieved by Paramount on June 22, 2008. It also hit the $3B worldwide combo of domestic/international earlier this year, passing Fox’s previous race to the milestone on June 30, 2010.
Other records? Universal currently has three of the four highest-grossing films of the year, and its films opened No. 1 worldwide three times in 2015 and have been No. 1 at the international box office for nine week
s — more than any other studio.
Now let’s look at the individual pictures in order of appearance: Fifty Shades of Grey is studio’s highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The film has grossed $403.6M at the international box office.
Fast & Furious 7 (as it was titled in international markets) grossed $1.16B at the international box office. Among countless milestones, Fast & Furious 7 is the highest-grossing film ever in China ($390.8M) and the third-highest-grossing film at the international box office ever, joining Avatar and Titanic as only the films in history to reach $1B in international box office. Um, that is, until the dinosaurs came stomping through.
Jurassic World became the fastest film to reach $1B worldwide, doing so after only 13 days in release. It went down in history as having had the biggest opening weekend of all-time internationally, domestically and worldwide. It ranks as the fifth-highest-grossing film of all-time worldwide behind Avatar, Titanic, Marvel’s The Avengers and Universal’s own Furious 7, and is known as the ninth-highest-grossing film internationally.
And it’s still playing, grabbing a total of $43.3M last weekend alone, with its final territory, Japan, opening August 5.
Also gotta give props to breakout hit Pitch Perfect 2, the musical comedy that came out of nowhere and started shoving Mad Max: Fury Road around in heated competition, especially Down Under. The female-directed film (Elizabeth Banks) is still playing in 49 territories and is on the verge of crossing $100M, stepping to the tune of around $280M worldwide to date. It has yet to open in 13 more territories before its performance is through.
“We are proud of our slate and the accompanying success, which is due to the hard work of our filmmakers and our tireless Universal Pictures team,” UPI President of Distribution Duncan Clark said in a statement today. “From our production group, who have been so brilliant at nurturing our homegrown franchises, to the best marketing and distribution teams in the business — both in London and Los Angeles — and our dedicated teams around the world, this year has been a joy for every member of our organization.”
Films propelling the studio to new heights include 
2ND UPDATE, 3:45 PM PT: The top two pictures internationally this session are the same as last week, only they switched places. With an expansion to 30 more markets, 
last month. Also next frame, Sony’s 
Among highlights for henchmen Stuart, Kevin and Bob is Mexico and its $19.7M opening this weekend — the 2nd biggest ever for all films. With 79% of the market, it’s running 30% higher than DM2. This was the 2nd biggest market for that film.
With an additional 14 markets, Terminator: Genisys booted up $47.3M for an overseas cume of $156.1M. Now playing in 60 offshore markets, the drop from last frame was 35%. Notable new plays included Japan, Germany, Spain, Italy and Argentina where it’s being comped to such pics as Pacific Rim, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Lucy. For the new group of markets, T:G was 27% above PR, 32% below MIGP and 10% under Lucy. It was the biggest opening for the franchise in three of the overall new markets and the best for Arnold in four. Among those, Argentina grossed $2.3M at 157 cinemas — 393% above MIGP and also gave Paramount its top opening ever.
Jurassic World’s international weekend estimate is $21.7M bringing the offshore dino dollar total to $875.2M. Playing in 65 territories, it has now passed Frozen‘s overseas lifetime of $873.6M to become the 7th highest-grossing film ever internationally. Insidious Rex and the raptors still have to stomp into Japan, the next and last release, which rolls around August 5.
Off of a $5.1M bow in Korea, Inside Out added $19.1M this frame which had it playing in 44 territories repping 48% of its international footprint. The offshore cume after its 4th frame is $151.8M for a global total of $435.44M. In Korea, Pete Docter’s charmer is the biggest Pixar opening of all time in the territory – besting Toy Story 3 by 17% and equaling almost the entire lifetime of Monsters University.
Seth MacFarlane’s 
Warner Bros’ Magic Mike XXL shimmied down to Australia this weekend with $4M in dollar bills on 401 screens. That includes previews and Warner says the film is primed to take the No. 1 slot where it’s in contention with Inside Out and Minions for the honor. Overall, MMXXL added $10.3M this session in 30 markets and on about 3,800 screens. The offshore cume is $20.5M. Elsewhere, France opened to $563K on 295 screens. In holds, the UK added $1.6M from 551 screens for a $6.3M total to date. Holland increased 28% to add $351K on 117 screens. The cume is $1.5M. Germany and Brazil release later this month.
As it winds down its overseas run, Avengers: Age Of Ultron picked up a further $2.9M in the frame, bringing the international cume to $933.3M for a global total of $1,388.5M. Its last market is Japan where after the 2nd session it now has a cume of $13.5M. Japan tends to do better with the ensemble Avengers pics — the 2012 first movie ultimately hammered out over $45M — as opposed to the standalones. AOU’s gross after nine days has already bested the entire runs of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World and Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Fox’s 
Despite pretty harsh reviews, Chinese coming-of-age title Forever Young won the weekend at the Middle Kingdom box office. It’s the directorial debut of TV personality He Jiong and fashioned somewhat out of a song he recorded several years ago, Gardenia In Blossom. The pic has grossed $38.5M since releasing July 10. These kinds of stories are popular in China so the performance is hardly a surprise, although it slightly edged out Tiny Times 4, the latest in that coming-of-age franchise which grossed $36M in the debut frame and has a cume of $54M throughout the week. Also new to the chart was Monkey King: Hero Is Back, an animated 3D take on the age-old tale. With $10M at the weekend, its total is now $11.5M. And, last week’s new entry to the unofficial Chinese blackout period, The Monk Comes Down The Mountain, added $6M for a cume to date of $58M.
SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali released in about 4,200 theaters worldwide and crossed the coveted 100 crore mark in just two days, according to local reports, taking in 135 crore ($21.3M) on Friday and Saturday. The