‘Despicable Me’ Rules The Weekend Box Office

“Despicable Me” had a sensational debut at the box office, taking in a studio-estimated $60.1 million and easily surpassing the second weekend of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” which dropped 49% to $33.4 million and is playing virtually even with the last “Twilight” movie, “New Moon.”

“Predators,” the other newbie at the box office this weekend, opened to $25.3 million, a strong start given its modest budget.

But “Despicable Me” was the big box-office news, as the 3-D movie far outpaced expectations based on pre-release surveys and marked a fantastic start for Universal Pictures in the competitive animated family film business. It was the biggest-ever opening for an original animated movie not made by Pixar or DreamWorks Animation, putting Universal’s Illumination Entertainment family films unit among the top players in its space.

It was also a notable opening, given that “Toy Story 3″ is still doing solid business. That film and “The Last Airbender” took up a number of the nation’s 3-D screens, leaving “Despicable Me” with only 1,551 theaters that played the movie in 3-D, about 800 fewer than other recent 3-D movies have enjoyed.

Universal’s marketing campaign, which focused on a little, yellow and adorable crew of supporting characters, appeared to strike a chord with animation fans of all ages, as an unusually high 45% of ticket buyers were not families with children younger than 12. Those who saw the movie loved it, giving it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore, foreshadowing a long box-office run that could easily take it to more than $150 million in the U.S. and Canada.

Illumination had an animation studio in France produce “Despicable Me” on a contract basis at a cost of only $69 million, less than half of what Pixar and DreamWorks typically spend. The film should be very profitable as a result, especially if it performs well overseas. The film had a good, but not great, $3.4-million opening in Russia amid very hot weather over the weekend, and has yet to hit other major foreign markets.

“Eclipse,” which premiered on a Wednesday, had a smaller second weekend than last year’s “New Moon,” which fell 70% to $42.9 million after its Friday debut. However, total ticket sales, including weekdays, have put the new “Twilight” picture in a virtual heat with its predecessor at the same point in their runs. “Eclipse” grossed a huge $237 million in its first 12 days, compared with $235.8 million for “New Moon.”

Overseas, “Eclipse” is beating “New Moon” in most major markets. “Eclipse” opened higher than its predecessor did in Great Britain and South Korea, but was slightly behind in France. Its international weekend take was $81.1 million and its foreign total is $219 million from 63 countries.

The opening for “Predators,” which stars Adrien Brody, was very good given that the film cost only about $40 million. The reboot of the science-fiction action franchise drew a mix of younger men new to the movies and older ones who probably remember the 1987 original that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

North American top 10, 9-11 July 2010

1. Despicable Me, $60.1m.

2. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, $33.4m. Total: $237m

3. Predators, $25.3m

4. Toy Story 3, $22m. Total: $340.2m

5. The Last Airbender, $17.2m. Total: $100.2m

6. Grown Ups, $16.4m. Total: $111.3m

7. Knight and Day, $7.9m. Total: $61.9m

8. The Karate Kid, $5.7m. Total: $164.6m

9. The A-Team, $1.8m. Total: $73.9m

10. Cyrus, $1.4m. Total: $3.5m

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