"Despicable Me" Leads North American Box Office
7/12/2010 12:02:00 AM
kenmouse
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"Despicable Me," a new family cartoon featuring the voice of Steve Carell, easily took the top spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, virtually assuring Universal Pictures of a lucrative franchise with its first foray into 3D animation.
The film earned an estimated $60.1 million across the United States and Canada during the three days beginning Friday, the General Electric Co. unit said, doubling pre-opening forecasts.
It was produced for about $69 million by former 20th Century Fox animation chief Chris Meledandri's new company, Illumination Entertainment, which has an exclusive financing and distribution deal with Universal.
Carell, star of "The Office," supplies the voice of Gru, an ineffective supervillain whose quest to steal the moon is interrupted by three orphaned girls who see him as a father figure. Critics approved of the picture, noting its obvious debt to the Pixar canon.
Another new entrant to exceed modest expectations was "Predators," a revival of a franchise originated in 1987 by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The new film, starring Adrien Brody, opened at No. 3 with $25.3 million, up from a pre-opening estimate in the low $20 million range.
Released by News Corp's 20th Century Fox, "Predators" was also a low-budget production, with a reported price tag of $38 million.
Last weekend's champion, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," fell to No. 2 with $33.4 million. Its 12-day total stands at $237.0 million, just ahead of the $236 million that its immediate predecessor, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," had earned in the same period last November. The vampire series was released by privately-held Summit Entertainment.
"Toy Story 3" slipped one place to No. 4 with $22 million, taking its total to $340.2 million after four weekends. If estimates hold when final data are released on Monday, it will have surpassed the $339.7 million total of "Finding Nemo" to become the biggest film in the history of Walt Disney Co's Pixar Animation unit.
Yet another family film, "The Last Airbender," fell three places to No. 5, with $17.2 million in its second weekend. Director M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of a Nickelodeon cartoon series has earned $100.2 million to date, said Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc..
The film earned an estimated $60.1 million across the United States and Canada during the three days beginning Friday, the General Electric Co. unit said, doubling pre-opening forecasts.
It was produced for about $69 million by former 20th Century Fox animation chief Chris Meledandri's new company, Illumination Entertainment, which has an exclusive financing and distribution deal with Universal.
Carell, star of "The Office," supplies the voice of Gru, an ineffective supervillain whose quest to steal the moon is interrupted by three orphaned girls who see him as a father figure. Critics approved of the picture, noting its obvious debt to the Pixar canon.
Another new entrant to exceed modest expectations was "Predators," a revival of a franchise originated in 1987 by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The new film, starring Adrien Brody, opened at No. 3 with $25.3 million, up from a pre-opening estimate in the low $20 million range.
Released by News Corp's 20th Century Fox, "Predators" was also a low-budget production, with a reported price tag of $38 million.
Last weekend's champion, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," fell to No. 2 with $33.4 million. Its 12-day total stands at $237.0 million, just ahead of the $236 million that its immediate predecessor, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," had earned in the same period last November. The vampire series was released by privately-held Summit Entertainment.
"Toy Story 3" slipped one place to No. 4 with $22 million, taking its total to $340.2 million after four weekends. If estimates hold when final data are released on Monday, it will have surpassed the $339.7 million total of "Finding Nemo" to become the biggest film in the history of Walt Disney Co's Pixar Animation unit.
Yet another family film, "The Last Airbender," fell three places to No. 5, with $17.2 million in its second weekend. Director M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of a Nickelodeon cartoon series has earned $100.2 million to date, said Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc..
- Despicable Me - $60,117,000
- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - $33,400,000
- Predators - $25,300,000
- Toy Story 3 - $22,000,000
- The Last Airbender - $17,150,000
- Grown Ups - $16,400,000
- Knight & Day - $7,850,000
- The Karate Kid - $5,700,000
- The A-Team - $1,800,000
- Cyrus - $1,375,000
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