Weekend Box Office: July 9-11
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. Despicable Me - $60.1 million
2. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - $33.4 million
3. Predators - $25.3 million
4. Toy Story 3 - $22 million
5. The Last Airbender - $17.1 million
6. Grownups - $16.4 million
7. Knight & Day - $7.8 million
8. The Karate Kid - $5.7 million
9. The A-Team - $1.8 million
10. Cyrus - $1.3 million
Wow, this was a great weekend at the box office. Despicable Me had a fantastic opening with $60.1 million. While that's below the opening weekends of this summer's other animated films Shrek Forever After and Toy Story 3, it's still a terrific opening for an original animated film (read: not a sequel) that didn't have an existing fanbase going into the weekend.
Even The Twilight Saga: Eclipse had a great second weekend, dropping only 49%, which is a much better dropoff than the previous films in the series. I'm told this film was the best in the series, but for now I'll just take their word for it.
This weekend's other new release, Predators, also opened well with $25.3 million, although with their weak summer box office, I'm thinking Fox is wishing it had done better. So far that's the third action movie release this summer (The A-Team and Knight & Day being the first two) that have opened below $30 million.
Toy Story 3 didn't have a problem fending off Despicable Me's audience this weekend, earning a solid $22 million. Its domestic total now stands at $340 million, which just squeaks it by Finding Nemo's $339 million to become Pixar's highest grossing film. It also currently 2010's highest grossing film, having passed Alice in Wonderland's $334 million this weekend.
The Last Airbender dropped 58% in its second week, but it is expected to cross the $100 million mark this weekend. Adam Sandler's Grownups continues to do well, having also passed $100 million this weekend.
I think we can officially declare Knight & Day as a disappointment, landing in 7th place this weekend and totalling only $61 million. The same can be said for The A-Team, which is still limping along with a $73 million total after a month in release (and dammit, I liked that movie!).
However, The Karate Kid continues to be one of the most successful films of the summer with a $164 million domestic total - keep in mind, this was a $40 million movie. The comedy Cyrus is also doing great business in just 200 theaters, staying in 10th place again this weekend with another $1.3 million.
Check back this weekend when Mitch updates with the actuals!
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