Weekend Box Office; 'Despicable Me' blows past all expectations

Steve Carell voices Gru, the dastardly hero/villain of "Despicable Me." PHOTO: Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures got the last laugh this weekend as after a string of disappointments, the studio finally hit one out of the park with their first CG-animated film “Despicable Me.” The comedy about the world’s greatest villain, opened far ahead of expectations with a superb $56.3 million to top all contenders at the weekend box office. Elsewhere on the countdown, Fox’s “Predators” reboot also had a strong debut while holdovers “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and “Toy Story 3” continued to perform well. Overall, it was the second-best movie-going weekend of the year, after the record breaking Jan 1-3 weekend when “Avatar” held the top spot.

When Universal first announced that they would be entering the animation business with “Despicable Me,” few thought it would make a dent at the box office. After all, it was a completely original family film not based on any previous material and was opening on the traditionally weak weekend-after-Independence day. But thanks to a superb marketing plan that focused on the film’s comic sidekick minions, numerous product placements and glowing reviews, the movie is now on track to become one of the summer’s biggest surprise hits. With $56.3 million in bank, “Despicable Me” almost doubled most prognosticators’ expectations. With predictions being off for nearly every summer blockbuster so far this year, it looks like box office prediction based on tracking isn’t so reliable anymore. Considering direct competition for family films is going to be weak for the rest of the summer, it looks like “Despicable Me” is well on its way to become the seventh $200 million grossing family film of 2010, and the first not based on existing material. Not bad at all. READ MY REVIEW.

Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne in "Predators."
PHOTO: Fox

After dominating the box office last holiday weekend, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” had a surprisingly reasonable hold by dropping 51% in its second weekend and grossed $31.7 million. While 51% isn’t considered a great hold, it’s surprising for a franchise that is regarded as the most front-loaded series in history (meaning almost 60% of its audience sees it opening weekend). The stronger hold for “Eclipse” is mainly because its first weekend didn’t include the colossal numbers of its opening day which was a Wednesday. So far the vampire romance has grossed an excellent $235 million and is well on its way to eclipse “New Moon” to become the highest grossing installment of the franchise. It’s unlikely to top “Toy Story 3” though. READ MY REVIEW.

The science fiction horror hybrid “Predators” was the next best performer of the week, debuting with an encouraging $25 million for the weekend – a strong number for an R-rated reboot of a falling franchise that opened on significantly less theaters than “Despicable Me.” Although it’s not expected to be a long-running film (competition from “Inception” and “Salt” will be really strong in the upcoming weeks), the positive reviews and cheap production budget should make it a profitable film for the studio. READ MY REVIEW.

Woody and gang in "Toy Story 3." PHOTO: Disney/Pixar

By grossing $21 million this weekend in fourth place, “Toy Story 3” officially became the highest grossing film of 2010. With its cumulative now up to an astounding $340 million, Woody and pals have surpassed “Finding Nemo” to become the highest grossing Pixar film in history. Even though “Despicable Me” stole a lot of 3-D screens and a good chunk of its audience, word-of-mouth for the picture is still excellent as evidenced by the small 31% drop. At this rate, “Toy Story 3” stands a good chance at becoming only the 11th film in history to gross north of $400 million. READ MY REVIEW.

Shockingly, people are still flocking to director M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film “The Last Airbender” despite the general consensus being that it’s one of the worst movies of the last 2 years. The critically trashed fantasy movie grossed $16.6 million for the weekend to lock up the fifth place on the box office chart. With its weekend gross, the incoherent, badly written and poorly directed mess of a film managed to cross the $100 million mark, even if it dropped by a horrible 59% from last weekend – a horrific drop for a family film playing on 3-D screens. READ MY REVIEW.

Also crossing the $100 million mark this weekend was another poorly-received film – Adam Sandler’s “Grown Ups.” The comedy also co-starring Kevin James and Sandler’s SNL chums Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and David Spade attracted another $15 million worth of moviegoers down a miniscule 17% from last weekend to take its total up to $110 million. Expect this one to finish up with a final gross in the $140-150 million range. READ MY REVIEW.

Tom Cruise followed Sandler in seventh place with "Knight and Day" which grossed just $7 million in its third weekend to take its total up to a disappointing $61.8 million. Although the drop for the action comedy was only 26%, the movie stands to end up with only $75-80 million when all is said and done. Considering that Cruise used to be untouchable at the box office a mere five years ago, this is really disappointing for the once “number one star on the planet.” READ MY REVIEW.

John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill have a man-to
-man talk in "Cyrus." PHOTO: Fox Searchlight

Eighth and ninth were taken up by a pair of 80s remakes in their fifth weekends: “The Karate Kid” and “The A-Team.”The critically acclaimed Jaden Smith movie was able to gross another $5.3 million this weekend to take its tally up to $165 million while the action movie starring Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper scratched up $1.7 million for a $73.9 million final. READ MY REVIEWS: "THE KARATE KID," "THE A-TEAM."

The top ten was rounded out by independent comedy “Cyrus” which made its South Florida debut this weekend to the tune of $1.2 million from only 200 theaters across the country. The other independent release that made its debut this weekend in South Florida, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” also had a strong debut outside the top 10 in 11th place with $905,000 from just 110 theaters. READ MY REVIEW.

NEXT WEEK: “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated science fiction actioner "INCEPTION" invades people’s minds and will likely be the number movie of the week. With its excellent marketing campaign, Oscar-nominated cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, original premise and jaw-dropping visuals, expect “Inception” to receive some of the year’s best reviews and be part of the discussion for months until Oscar nomination are announced next year. Also opening this weekend, but on Wednesday will be the action comedy “THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE" starring Nicolas Cage and Alfred Molina. Read my reveiw of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW FOR MY MONTH-BY-MONTH 2010 SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW