After what seems like ages stuffed with one painful flop after another, Universal finally has a real reason to celebrate, as the company’s new CG ‘toon, Despicable Me, romped to the top of the US box office charts this weekend with an expectation-thrashing $60 million.
The film, which follows what happens when a frustrated super villain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) is lumbered with three adorable orphans, is a bona fide hit and managed to shove The Twilight Saga: Eclipse down to second place. Edward, Bella and co managed to gouge $32.6 million from audiences.
Predators, meanwhile, opened to a respectable $25 million to snatch third place, just ahead of Toy Story 3, which is now the second-highest grossing animated film in US domestic history, behind Shrek 2. And with lots of international money still to come (the World Cup meant it was delayed), Woody and co look like they have a chance to topple Pixar’s big champion, Finding Nemo. But they have a ways to go yet. Rounding out the top five was The Last Airbender, which took in $17.1 million.
The rest of the top 10 was comprised of Grown Ups (sixth with $16.4 million), Knight & Day (seventh with $7.8 million), The Karate Kid (eighth and $5.7 million), The A-Team (ninth with $1.8 million) and star indie Cyrus, which found its way up to 10th with $1.3 million.
For the full chart detail, point your web missiles towards Box Office Mojo.