Box Office Recap: ‘Despicable Me 2’ Remains #1, ‘Pacific Rim’ Bombs

During it’s second week of release,  the Steve Carell-fronted animated, comedy Despicable Me 2 took the number one spot at the box office this weekend.  The film earned $44.7 million on over 4,000 screens across the country to help bring the sequel’s worldwide box office total to $229 million.

Grown Ups 2, Adam Sandler’s first attempt at a sequel, did very well for the 46-year-old comedian.  Starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade and Salma Hayek, Growns Ups 2 opened to $42.5 million on 3,491 in the United States, outselling 2010’s Growns Ups debut of $40.5 million.  With a budget of only $80 million, Grown Ups 2 will soon be in the green and be well on its way to outpacing the $162 million domestic finish Grown Ups had.

In the box office failure category, Pacific Rim fell far short of expectations with a debut of only $38.3 million.  Due to the film’s extremely high budget of $190 million, any opening less than $100 million would be considered a failure.  Critics ripped apart the film in publications across the country.  One critic said it was like “seeing a Transformer battle a toy dinosaur in a bathtub.”  Surprisingly, the film is the highest ever for director Guillermo del Toro.

Below are this week’s top ten films at the box office: