There’s no need to get a loan from the Bank of Evil; Gru and his minions hit it big at the box office this weekend. Despicable Me blew Universal Picture’s expectations away grossing far more than the $30 million the studio was hoping for. Despicable Me closed out the weekend with a whopping $60.1 million.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse came in second with $33.4 million, which brings its grand total to $237 million. The third spot went to newcomer Predators, which collected $25.3 million at 2,669 theaters. Predators only had a $40 million production budget, so tack on the $18 million it made at the international box office and it’s already in the green.
Toy Story 3 continues its stellar run adding another $22 million to its haul. That puts its total gross at $340.2 million, beating Finding Nemo’s $339.7 total, making it the company’s highest domestic earner. The Last Airbender is still holding on with $17.2 million. So far it’s taken in just over $100 million in the states and an additional $10 million overseas. $110.2 million sounds nice, but not when it cost $150 million to make and an additional $130 million was poured into its marketing campaign.
Grown Ups earned the sixth spot with $16.4 million and is followed by Knight & Day, which took in another $7.9 million. The Karate Kid comes in eighth with $5.7 million and The A-Team in ninth with $1.8 million. The tenth position belongs to Cyrus, which has continued to climb along with its theater count since its release.
We’ve got two heavy hitters on the way for next weekend, Inception and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Both have impressive ensemble casts, but the weekend of the 14th will likely belong to Inception. After The Last Airbender is anyone really ready for more CGI magic? Plus, it probably won’t help that early reviews of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice are on the negative side, while Inception is getting the thumbs up practically across the board.
By Perri Nemiroff (via Box Office Mojo)
