'The Lone Ranger' falls below 'Despicable Me 2' in weekend take
'The Lone Ranger' was the second biggest grossing film of the weekend. 'Despicable Me 2' took in almost three times as much money between Friday and Sunday.
Johnny Depp stars as Tonto in a scene from 'The Lone Ranger.' Domestic box office numbers so far on this long Fourth of July holiday weekend are suggesting the highly anticipated, $250 million Western extravaganza is in serious danger of becoming the train wreck of the summer movie season. The animated minions of family favorite 'Despicable Me 2,' with a price tag one third of what 'The Lone Ranger' cost to make, is outperforming the masked man by more than three to one.
Disney Enterprises, Inc./AP
NEW YORK
Disney's "The Lone Ranger" got stampeded by the kind of movie the company built its reputation on: an animated crowd-pleaser.
Universal's "Despicable Me 2" earned $83.5 million over the weekend, a robust opening for the 3-D animated sequel. It came at the expense of the Johnny Depp Western, which opened far below expectations with $29.2 million, making it one of the summer's biggest flops.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com, are:
1. "Despicable Me 2," Universal, $83,517,315, 3,997 locations, $20,895 average, $143,074,960, one week.
2. "The Lone Ranger," Disney, $29,210,849, 3,904 locations, $7,482 average, $48,715,010, one week.
3. "The Heat," Fox, $24,763,907, 3,184 locations, $7,778 average, $86,259,195, two weeks.
4. "Monsters University," Disney, $19,716,347, 3,739 locations, $5,273 average, $216,253,979, three weeks.
5. "World War Z," Paramount, $18,408,963, 3,316 locations, $5,552 average, $158,989,638, three weeks.
6. "White House Down," Sony, $13,478,486, 3,222 locations, $4,183 average, $50,485,249, two weeks.
7. "Man of Steel," Warner Bros., $11,414,297, 2,905 locations, $3,929 average, $271,188,450, four weeks.
8. "Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain," Summit, $10,030,463, 876 locations, $11,450 average, $17,391,167, one week.
9. "This Is the End," Sony, $5,870,167, 2,104 locations, $2,790 average, $85,674,320, four weeks.
10. "Now You See Me," Lionsgate, $2,853,191, 1,606 locations, $1,777 average, $110,498,603, six weeks.
11. "Star Trek Into Darkness," Paramount, $1,310,448, 565 locations, $2,319 average, $223,065,011, eight weeks.
12. "Fast & Furious 6," Universal, $1,073,565, 617 locations, $1,740 average, $235,488,675, seven weeks.
13. "The Way, Way Back," Fox Searchlight, $552,788, 19 locations, $29,094 average, $552,788, one week.
14. "Epic," Fox, $511,334, 428 locations, $1,195 average, $104,042,667, seven weeks.
15. "20 Feet From Stardom," Weinstein Co., $483,959, 89 locations, $5,438 average, $1,075,529, four weeks.
16. "Iron Man 3," Disney, $481,668, 294 locations, $1,638 average, $406,410,987, 10 weeks.
17. "Before Midnight," Sony Pictures Classics, $478,870, 214 locations, $2,238 average, $6,576,894, seven weeks.
18. "The Internship," Fox, $459,735, 379 locations, $1,213 average, $42,762,538, five weeks.
19. "Much Ado About Nothing," Lionsgate, $420,781, 170 locations, $2,475 average, $2,946,070, five weeks.
20. "After Earth," Sony, $382,278, 270 locations, $1,416 average, $58,886,982, six weeks.
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.