Despicable Me 2 holds top spot
LOS ANGELES, USA (AP) — Universal’s minions ran away with the box office for the second week in a row.
With US$44.8 million in domestic ticket sales Friday through Sunday, the animated sequel Despicable Me 2 outdid the debuts of the Adam Sandler comedy Grown Ups 2 and director Guillermo del Toro’s monsters-versus-robots action flick Pacific Rim.
The weekend’s No 1 movie featuring Steve Carell as ex-supervillain Gru made another US$55.5 million overseas. That brought its global two-week total to US$472.4 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.
“This has become the July film to beat right now,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking division of Hollywood.com. “There’s something about the minions that audiences just love.”
The movie brings together former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal as a bumbling police officer with a host of comedy All-Stars including Chris Rock and David Spade playing awkward parents.
The third-place finish of Pacific Rim, with US$38.3 million in receipts, represented a disappointing start domestically for Warner Bros. and partner Legendary Entertainment. Figures released by the studio showed it doing better overseas.
The movie took in US$53 million from 38 markets outside the US and Canada, representing about half its overseas footprint. It has yet to open in China or Japan, the home of the movie’s co-star, Rinko Kikuchi.
Disney’s The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp as Tonto, took in US$11.1 million domestically in its second week, falling into fifth place behind The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, which brought in another US$14 million in its third week.
Stock market analysts predict Disney to book a big loss on the film.
The film was temporarily halted in July 2011 to rein in its budget, but production expenses alone are estimated to have exceeded US$200 million. So far, it has pulled in just US$119.1 million worldwide, roughly half of which is kept by theatre owners. Eric Wold, an analyst with investment bank B Riley & Co pegged Disney’s possible loss on the film at about US$100 million.
Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theatres (excluding the US and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. Despicable Me 2, US$55.5m.
2. Pacific Rim, US$53m.
3. Monsters University, US$30.2m.
4. World War Z, US$22.4m.
5. After Earth, US$13.7m.
6. Man of Steel, US$13.3m.
7. The Lone Ranger, US$12.7m.
8. The Heat, US$8.1m.
9. Cold Eyes, US$7.5m.
10. Now You See Me, US$6.3m.
