‘Despicable Me’ Nets $60 Million Opening Weekend
Kids movies just seem to be better than all the other crap out there. All these animated movies do just enough to appeal to adults, but still keep it fun for the kids. While it may look like kid’s stuff, most of these animated movies throw in a little bit of adult humor along with a clean story that makes everyone happy. That means as they come off the assembly line, they pretty much already know that people want to see them.
“Despicable Me” is no different. With a huge opening weekend of $60 Million at the box office, it proves once again that people really just want to feel like kids at the movies and laugh at jokes about adult acne treatment.
The other new wide release, Predators starring Adrian Brody, earned an estimated $25.3 million for the weekend–above expectations and better than the majority of other Predator movies released over the last 23 years. The performances of these two films plus the strong holds of Toy Story, Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Grown Ups helped boost the box office up a remarkable 40 percent over last year at this time when Bruno opened to $30.6 million.
Despicable Me earned a solid A from audiences, according to exit pollster CinemaScore. The same can not be said for Predators, which only received a C+ from the exit pollster. In contrast, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which audiences love, lost 49 percent of its value the second weekend, better than New Moon did its third weekend in theaters. The film added $33.3 million to its coffers, for a second place finish. The David Slade-directed flick’s total gross now stands at $237 million. (The film still trails New Moon by $18 million but with a better hold perhaps its staying power will outweigh its predecessor in the end.)
