It was a terrific opening salvo Wednesday for Despicable Me 2’s box office debut. The Universal Pictures sequel to the 2010 hit earned a cool $34.3 million its opening day and, with an “A” CinemaScore, looks poised to ride high into a $120+ million five-day weekend. Den of Geeksimilarly praised the family film.
Meanwhile The Lone Ranger performed at a meager $9.6 million for its opening Wednesday and despite playing on over 3,900 theaters, is looking at a number well below Disney’s initially tampered expectations of a $65 million five-day weekend. Indeed, according to Deadline, rival studios are already pegging the costly Johnny Depp Western as a blockbuster that will not even cross $45 million in the domestic box office by Sunday. Disney has similarly lowered their expectations down to $43 million.
In retrospect, going head-to-head with another family friendly film featuring a deep built-in audience following the DVD success of Despicable Me seems questionable. And while Lone Ranger is receiving a “B+” CinemaScore, well above the dour tone critics gave the picture (read our review HERE), there seems to be a strangely lethargic interest in a project from the same creative force that gave the world the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Also, growing buzz shows concern about the level of violence depicted in Lone Ranger’s early gun-slinging scenes. Den of Geek Critic Gabe Toro has his own opinions about why The Lone Rangermay struggle with American audiences this year.
On a brighter note for overall Hollywood box office, Despicable Me 2 has already grossed $65.9 million internationally in only 11 markets. Given that it crossed $100 million globally yesterday and does not open in 38 more international territories until Friday, that can only be good news for the Minions.
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