Gru and his loveable minions had a humongous impact on the North American box office over the Fourth of July holiday weekend as Despicable Me 2 soared to new heights during each day of its five-day debut. The animated comedy easily trounced the dismal second place opening of Disney’s expensive western flop The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. Toss in a handful of strong holdovers and the holiday box office was up 21% over last weekend, and a healthy 23% over the same weekend at this time a year ago.
Three years ago this month, Universal debuted the original Despicable Me, which featured the voice talents of Steve Carell and Jason Segal. The movie made a big $56 million in its first three days and went on to accumulate $251 million domestically. In the three years that followed, Gru and his little yellow minions (who are getting their own spin off movie next year) saw their fan base increase quite a bit thanks to home video and cable exposure. Suffice to say, the sequel was primed to open big.
One question did remain: just how big would the opening be? Even the most optimistic of forecasts did not put the movie’s debut past $120 million (except ours), but that is exactly what happened. After being marketed extensively over the past few months, the $76 million sequel opened in 3,997 theaters to earn a remarkable $142 million since last Wednesday ($82 million from Friday-to-Sunday). Reviews from critics were solid and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an “A” rating, which should not only help this film sail past the original’s $251 million domestic gross in two to three weeks, it may help propel it past the $300 million mark. Overseas, the movie earned a huge $88.8 million from 45 markets to bring its two-week foreign haul to $151 million.
The news wasn’t so good for Disney’s $215 million The Lone Ranger. The latest feature from the director (Gore Verbinski), star (Johnny Depp), producer (Jerry Bruckheimer) and writers of the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films earned some serious scorn from the nation’s critics and apathy from a movie-going public who had better movies to spend their money on. Opening last Wednesday, the mega-budgeted revitalization of The Lone Ranger and Tonto has earned a meek $48.9 million on 3,904 screens ($29.4 million from Friday-To-Sunday).
Depending on word-of-mouth from ticket buyers, there is a good chance that it may not even reach the $90 million mark domestically, which would mark Depp’s second big budget dud following last summer’s Dark Shadows which only brought in $80 million (the movie cost an estimated $150 million to produce).
The Lone Ranger is the third mega-budgeted movie this summer to under-perform at the box office. May’s $130 million dud After Earth sputtered with a meager $58 million in sales despite the presence of Will Smith. June’s $150 million action opus White House Down, which had the misfortune to open only a few months after similarly-themed Olympus Has Fallen, has only brought in $50.4 million so far en route to a final haul between $70-80 million. Unless there is a reversal of box office fortune, The Lone Ranger looks like it is headed toward a similar final haul. This is hardly the news that Disney wants to hear, especially after the $200 million write off that was 2012’s John Carter.
The glimmer of hope for Ranger may come in the form of the foreign box office, where Depp has been a reliable draw. Westerns, however, have not. If the $24 million brought in from foreign markets this weekend is any indication, the road ahead for Ranger overseas may be equally as rough as its domestic one is shaping up to be.
After arriving on the scene with a big $39 million in its first three days last weekend, the female cop comedy The Heat continued to be a hot ticket. The Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock feature slipped a modest 36% to earn an estimated $25 million on 3,184 screens to bring its ten-day total to $86 million. Word-of-mouth has been strong for the Boston-based comedy, and with no real competition on the horizon The Heat should make its way to at least $150 million by the end of its run.
Two-week box office champ Monsters University took a direct hit from the arrival of Despicable Me 2 and fell from first to fourth place in its third weekend of release. Despite losing 57% of its audience, the film continues to draw in viewers of all ages. Still on 3,739 screens Mike and Sulley scared up an estimated $19.5 million to bring its domestic total to a terrific $216 million. Monsters University’s drops should level off a bit in the upcoming weeks and it should graduate to home video with roughly $270 million. Foreign markets have contributed $184 million so far.
Rounding out the top five while showing some fairly good legs is Paramount’s zombie epic World War Z. The Brad Pitt blockbuster eased a mere 39% from last weekend to earn $18.2 million on 3,316 screens. To date, the Marc Forster-directed feature has scared up a bloody good $158.7 million and should make its way to a final domestic haul between $185-190 million. Overseas totals now stand at a tall $207 million.
The remainder of the top ten is as follows:
6. White House Down (Sony) $13.5 million (-46%); $50.4 million to date
7. Man of Steel (Warner Brothers) $11.4 million (-45%); $271.2 million
8. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (Lionsgate) $10.1 million (New); $17.4 million
9. This is the End (Sony) $5.8 million (-33%); $85.5 million
10. Now You See Me (Lionsgate/Summit) $2.7 million (-51%); $110 million
Sony debuts the Adam Sandler sequel Grown Ups 2 next weekend, while Warner unleashes its monster/robot epic Pacific Rim from Guillermo del Toro. Both new releases have their work cut out for them trying to unseat Despicable Me 2 from the top spot.
– Shawn Fitzgerald
