'Despicable Me' Dominates, 'Predators' Solid But Unspectacular
by Ray Subers --- July 11, 2010
Gru and his army of Minions may appear to be ruthless villains in constant pursuit of world domination, but that didn't stop audiences from showing Despicable Me some serious love at the box office. The weekend's other new release Predators was far behind, though it still performed admirably compared to past entries in the franchise. Holdovers The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Toy Story 3 continued to play well, while The Last Airbender had a considerable drop-off. The Top 12 was up a massive 43 percent from the same time frame last year, when Bruno led with $30.6 million.
Despicable Me crushed even the most optimistic predictions by opening to an estimated $60.1 million on around 5,200 screens at 3,476 theaters. While this number falls short of the opening grosses for the summer's other 3D animated features Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After, it's still phenomenal considering Despicable Me is a wholly original feature with no built-in audience. In fact, it's the second-best opening ever for a non-Pixar, original animated movie behind 2008's Kung Fu Panda, and could top that movie's $60.2 million start when actual numbers are reported tomorrow.
Despicable Me is the first release in a distribution deal between Universal Pictures and new animation company Illumination Entertainment, founded by former Fox Animation president Chris Meledandri. The movie couldn't have come at a better time for Universal, which hasn't had a bonafide hit yet this year, and Despicable Me's opening is the best for a Universal movie since Fast and Furious opened to $70.95 million last April.
Making Despicable Me's success even more remarkable was the comparatively small role 3D had in its grosses. Approximately 45 percent of the movie's earnings came from the 1,551 premium-priced locations, which is substantially lower than any of 2010's other 3D animated releases. It's worth noting though, that those movies all debuted on many more 3D screens. A better comparison is last year's Monsters Vs. Aliens, whose 1,550 3D locations had a 56 percent share of its opening, which was still much higher than Despicable Me's 3D percentage. According to Universal's exit polling, 55 percent of Despicable Me's audience was kids 12 years and under with their parents, and its solid "A" from moviegoer pollster Cinemascore indicates positive word-of-mouth should help propel the movie to further strong returns.
In its second weekend, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was off 49 percent to an estimated $33.4 million. This is a much better hold than that of predecessors Twilight and New Moon which dropped 62 and 70 percent, respectively. With Eclipse burning off a lot of demand with its Wednesday opening and then spreading out its first weekend over a four-day frame, this comparatively lighter drop was to be expected. Through its first 12 days, Eclipse has grossed $237 million, and is actually slightly outpacing New Moon through the same point.
While it had to settle for third place, Predators did open to a respectable estimated $25.3 million from around 3,300 screens at 2,669 theaters. This is the second-best opening for a Predator movie behind 2004's Alien Vs. Predator, though the addition of the Alien brand surely aided in that movie's grosses. More impressive was the fact that without an action star like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Predators was still able to draw about the same initial attendance as 1987's Predator. Excluding The Village and King Kong, which were sold primarily on their high-profile directors, Predators is easily star Adrien Brody's best opening ever. It's also the best start for a Robert Rodriguez-produced feature since 2003's Spy Kids 3D: Game Over.
In spite of Predators solid numbers, it does mark the third straight sub-$30 million start for a 20th Century Fox action movie this summer, following The A-Team and Knight & Day. As genre movies like Predators tend to be very front-loaded, it's doubtful that this movie will ultimately be able to do much to salvage Fox's mediocre summer. Exit polling data for Predators is not currently available.
For more Despicable Me and Predators analysis, click here to read the Weekend Briefing.
Toy Story 3 had its smallest decline yet, off just 27 percent to an estimated $22 million. With a $340 million total, Toy Story 3 has passed Alice in Wonderland to become the top movie of 2010. It also barely topped Finding Nemo to become Pixar's highest-grossing movie ever, though it remains in the bottom half in terms of estimated attendance.
After getting off to a great start last weekend, The Last Airbender fell 58 percent to an estimated $17.2 million. It's expected to cross the $100 million mark today to become the fourth M. Night Shyamalan movie to reach this level. Down just 14 percent to an estimated $16.4 million, Grown Ups also crossed the $100 million threshold this weekend. This is the 11th Adam Sandler movie in the past 12 years to reach this level, and no other actor has had that many live-action $100 million movies in that time frame.
