“Despicable Me” crushed projections en route to a dominant Friday performance at the box office, effectively assuring itself a weekend victory.
The 3D animated film grossed $21.7 million Friday, which positions it for a weekend take of $55-60 million. Projections earlier in the week viewed $35-40 million as a strong start.
In its second Friday, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” fell drastically to $10.9 million, although no one expected “Eclipse” to have legs. Its current take of more than $200 million is, nonetheless, still quite impressive.
The smartly-financed “Predators,” which came in with a production budget of less than $40 million according to Deadline, followed with $10.4 million Friday as part of a weekend total that should be about $25 million.
Also in the top five: “Toy Story 3” garnered 6.6 million, while “The Last Airbender” was good for $5.3 million.