Nothing Despicable About This Weekend's Box Office

By Chris Kavan - 07/11/10 at 10:51 PM CT

Audiences had a lot to choose from this weekend, and they decided it was best to spread the love for once.

The biggest winner was the animated original Despicable Me. With over $60 million, it's a hit, the biggest for a non-Pixar/Dreamworks picture. For a wholly original concept, it was very entertaining - and it did it without too much of a boost from 3D with only 45% factored into its total. It won't surpass Toy Story 3, and maybe not ever Shrek 4, but I think it's a good sign that there is still faith in originality left out there.

Don't feel too bad for the other animated feature. Toy Story 3 surged past $340 million to become the year's top grossing film (beating Alice in Wonderland) and is now also Pixar's highest grossing film. With just a 27% decline from last week, it still has plenty left to go.

The week's other new release, Predators, opened in third with a respectably $25.3 million. Considering Adrian Brody's other film, Splice, tanked, it should make the actor a little happier as it's his biggest opening after King Kong and The Village. I will actually give this one the benefit of the doubt - it's an interesting take on an existing franchise.

Twilight Saga: Eclipse held strong in second with $33.4 million. Although down 49%, it held its audience much better than either New Moon or Twilight. With $237, Eclipse is actually performing better than New Moon in the same period. If Eclipse can hold on, it's a good sign for the series. I still don't see what people get out of these films, but as long as its this popular, it'll stick around.

Although Airbender dropped a steep 58%, it should cross $100 million this week. The Adam Sandler vehicle Grown Ups also joined the century club for this year. Surprisingly, Sandler is the ONLY actor in the past 12 years to have 11 films reach the $100 million mark. That may possibly be one of the signs of the apocalypse, let me check on that.

Next week brings Inception and The Sorcerer's Apprentice - should be another good weekend and we'll see how the films hold up then.

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