| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | box OfficeExhibitor News |
Even the sunshine couldn’t stop the minions bringing in the millions, as Despicable Me 2 opened with a mammoth £14.8m.
Although that includes £4.9m in previews from last weekend, it’s still an incredible performance and the Friday to Sunday total of £10m is the third highest opening of the year. With the first Despicable Me’s final total at £20.2m, it looks like the sequel could potentially double that.
The battle with Monsters University for the title of biggest animation of the year is going to be much closer than many predicted. A sizable 37% of Despicable Me 2’s gross to date is from 3D presentations, which is higher than Epic and on par with The Croods.
Spots two and three were taken by last weekend’s top two, with Man of Steel dropping 52% to £2.4m and a cume of £26.2m and World War Z, a fraction behind, also with £2.4m and a cume of £9.8m.
Over the weekend Man of Steel overtook The Croods to become the third biggest film of the year. It’s unlikely to go any higher though as Iron Man 3 is over £10m ahead in second place.
Fourth place was taken by apocalyptic comedy This Is The End with £1.4m. 21 Jump Street, which had a similarly anarchic feel, opened with £1.6m last March and through good word of mouth managed to just cross the £10m mark. Hopefully This Is The End will perform similarly.
The rest of the top 15 wilted in the sun, with new entry Hummingbird in sixth place, unable to match other Jason Statham films with £206k. Other notable performers were After Earth crossing £6m and Before Midnight elegantly strolling past the £500k mark.
Overall the box office was up 82% from last weekend and a sensational 292% (yes, TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO PERCENT) from the same weekend last year, which is even more impressive considering the sunny weather.
In the US, two weeks before it opens in the UK, Monsters University held on to first place, easing 44% to $46.2m and a cume of $171m. That's a better second weekend hold than Pixar experienced with their previous three films, Toy Story 3 (46%), Brave (49%), and Cars 2 (60%).
The highest new entry in second place was buddy cop comedy The Heat with $40m. As expected the audience was predominantly female (65%) and 67% over the age of 25.
In third place, World War Z fell 55% to $29.8m and a strong cume of $123.7m.
The weekend’s biggest disappointment was White House Down which could only open with $25.7m. That’s lower than the similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen ($30.4m). The top five was completed by Man of Steel which fell 50% to $20.8m and to date has a cume of $248.7m.
