The Steve Carell led animated feature “Despicable Me” topped the box office last weekend garnering $56.4M in its first week of release. “Despicable” as the title may lead one to believe, the film has thus far received extremely favorable reviews, with an 80 percent rating on rottentomatoes.com, and Kirk Honeycutt of hollywoodreporter.com saying the film is “funny, clever, and warmly animated with memorable characters.”
Coming in behind “Despicable” by more than $24M, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” finished the weekend at $31.7M. Despite the more than 50 percent drop from its opening weekend gross, the third “Twilight” installment has now banked more than $235M since its June 30th release. The film series’ continued popularity is great news for stars Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, and Kristin Stewart, who are set to receive $25M a piece for the next two installments of “Breaking Dawn” plus 7.5 percent of those films’ gross.
Placing third in its opening weekend, the Robert Rodriguez produced “Predators” came through with $24.8M. The film, which stars Adrien Brody, Lawrence Fishburne, and Topher Grace amongst others as elite warriors who are hunted by an alien race known as “Predators,” serves as a sequel to “Predator” (1987) and semi-sequel to “Predator 2″ (1990).
Rounding out the top five were “Toy Story 3” with $21M ($339.2M total) and M. Night Shyamalan’s anime adaptation “The Last Airbender,” which came in with $16.6M, bringing its two-week total to $99.7M.
With the release of the much anticipated “Inception” this weekend, Gru, Vector, and the minions of “Despicable Me” will have a difficult task in maintaining their (super)villainous hold atop the box office. Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”) directs an all-star cast led by Leonardo Dicaprio, who plays Dom Cobb, a thief skilled in the art of stealing secrets from the subconscious mind during the dream state. Though his abilities have made him an extremely dangerous player in the world of corporate espionage, they have cost him everything he has ever loved. One last job could give Cobb redemption, but this time instead of stealing ideas, he and his team will have to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. As the team begins to execute their plan, they soon realize that a dangerous enemy seems to predict their every move, something that could sabotage the whole operation.
Joining Dicaprio are Ellen Page, indie favorite Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Michael Caine, who Christopher Nolan has brought along for his last four theatrical releases. With early reviews proclaiming it as the best film of 2010, “Inception” should definitely post high numbers as we move into next week.
Not to be forgotten, Jerry Bruckheimer’s latest production “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” looks to capitalize on its Wednesday release. The film takes its inspiration from the famous segment in Disney’s “Fantasia” (think buckets, brooms, and Mickey) and stars Nicholas Cage and Jay Baruchel.
With genres ranging from family features to teen sensations to mind-blowing thrillers, this week should definitely have something for everyone at the box office. To be continued next week…
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