Despicable Me No.1 in the Box Office Over the Weekend
August 12, 2010 by Karen Purvis · Leave a Comment
“Despicable Me” makes it to the first spot at the box office this weekend where it earned approximately $60.1 million, effortlessly outshining “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” who made $33.4 million (total gross $237 million). Family movies continue to conquer the cinemas this summer. Universal Pictures has become the latest studio finding success in family films with its first take on the genre, “Despicable Me”. The 3-D film took the top spot from “Twilight Saga: Eclipse”, who is now on their second week and lost more than 48 percent of its box office intake compared to last week. “Predators” took the third spot which sold $25.3 million worth of tickets in the United States and Canada.
CinemaScore gave “Despicable Me” an average grade of A and gave it strong reviews and positive word-of-mouth after they saw the movie on the opening night. This helped the movie incredibly in attracting moviegoers, especially families with children under 12. The 3-D animated film was made by a French animation studio on a contract basis at a total cost amounting to $70 million, about half of what Pixar and DreamWorks usually spend.
Universal Pictures has been lacking from that category, however in 2007 it recruited Fox Animation chief Chris Meleandri to make a jump-start on its efforts through the new Illumination Entertainment label. “Despicable Me” is the first film from Illumination and had the greatest opening for an original animated movie not made by Pixar or DreamWorks Animation. Universal Pictures Chairman Adam Fogelson said, “Whatever else is going on in the marketplace, it’s evident that quality, all-audience films are one of the most powerful opportunities imaginable. I’m ecstatic that on our first swing we performed at the highest of levels.”
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