Anything But A 'Despicable' Start

Universal Studios' first foray into 3-D animated feature films got off to a stellar start, with Despicable Me taking in $60.1 million in its opening three days.  The film features voice stars Steve Carrell, Jason Segel and Kristen Wiig and represents a massive opening for a rare non-sequel/remake this summer.

Falling into second place was last weekend's top film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which fell 48.5% to $33.4 million over the weekend.  With total grosses of $237 million so far, the film is currently on track to eclipse the previous film in the series, New Moon which ended up grossing just over $296 million after its release last November.

Third place went to another new film, Predators.  The sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger starring 80's action vehicle did respectable business, bringing in $25.3 million in its first weekend.  With a modest budget estimated at around $40 million, and a genre that does well in international markets, the film should have no issues turning a profit.  

Fourth place went to Toy Story 3, which added another $22 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its total to $340 million so far.  This makes Toy Story 3 Pixar's highest grossing film to date, having just passed Finding Nemo's $339 million gross.  Toy Story 3's total this weekend also helped it to pass Alice in Wonderland as the highest grossing film released in 2010 (so far).

Finally, the fifth place slot went to another holdover, The Last Airbender.  M Night Shymalan's latest film fell 57.5% in its second weekend of release, adding $17.2 million to its total for $100.2 million so far.  In spite of extremely critical reviews and poor audience scores, The Last Airbender represents Shymalan's highest grosses since 2004's The Village.