Universal’s animated hit Despicable Me 2 made it two in a row at the top of the box office chart while taking on two wide release newcomers that hit theaters this weekend; the follow up to the 2010 Sandler, Rock, Spade, James comedy Grown Ups & the sci-fi spectacular Pacific Rim both debuting in well over 3,000 theaters each.
That brings us to the strength of the Minions of Universal’s Despicable Me 2 and its continued domination of the marketplace. The little guys took first place for the second weekend in a row with $44.8 million. Despicable has now banked nearly $230 million in North America and continues to generate great word-of-mouth and remains the family film favorite in the marketplace.
Grown Ups 2 took second place with an impressive $42.5 million in its opening weekend. The franchise comedy offers up the comedy of a veritable Mt. Rushmore of comedy actors with Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock and David Spade as childhood friends who are technically adults, but maintain the camaraderie, irreverence and immaturity they had when they were teens. This prolonged state of arrested development fuels Sony’s PG-13 comedy which is the follow up to the June 2010 release of the first installment that became the 15th highest grossing movie released that year with $162 million in domestic receipts. This weekend performnce was nicely ahead of $40.5 million opening weekend of its predecessor. Despite harsh reviews, the true fans of Adam Sandler didn’t care one bit about that and showed up in droves carrying Sandler to his second best live-action debut behind only 2005’s The Longest Yard and its $47.6 million first weekend take.
Warner Bros.’ Pacific Rim, had solid reviews, a terrific CinemaScore of A- and opened with a better than expected $38.3 million for third place. One of the most talked about movies of the year, visionary director Guillermo del Toro brought his sc-fi epic to 3,275 theaters and nailed his biggest opening gross ever! Featuring a terrific cast including Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi, the film boasts amazing special effects, tons of property damage and features a monsters vs. robots scenario (along with strong human character development) that will continue to bring fans to the multi-plex in the coming weeks. IMAX represented 19% of the film’s total domestic box office of $38.3 mil.
In fourth place, Fox’s hit comedy The Heat took fourth place in its third weekend with $14 million and crosses the $100 million mark in North America. Rounding out the Top 5 is The Lone Ranger from Disney which earned $11.1 million in its second weekend and $71.1 million to date.
Top Movies for Weekend of July 12 – July 14 (Estimates)
Rank Movie Gross Theaters Avg.Per YTD Distributor
01 Despicable Me 2 $44.8M 4,003 $11,180 $229.2M Universal
02 Grown Ups 2 $42.5M 3,491 $12,174 $42.5M Sony
03 Pacific Rim $38.3M 3,275 $11,695 $38.3M Warner Bros.
04 The Heat $14.0M 3,128 $4,476 $112.4M Fox
05 The Lone Ranger $11.14M 3,904 $2,853 $71.1M Disney
06 Monsters University $10.6M 3,142 $3,380 $237.76M Disney
07 World War Z $9.43M 3,003 $3,140 $177.1M Paramount
08 White House Down $6.15M 2,566 $2,397 $62.96M Sony
09 Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain $5.0M 892 $5,605 $23.4M Summit
10 Man of Steel $4.825M 2,150 $2,244 $281.0M Warner Bros.
