'Despicable Me 2' takes down the 'Lone Ranger'

For the studio behind the yellow, goggle-wearing peanuts known as Minions, the five-day holiday weekend was great. Despicable Me 2 earned an astonishing $142 million over the five-day period, with its traditional three-day weekend bringing in $82.5 million of that total. People liked the original, and Universal marketed the follow-up as more of the same--but with even more of those adorable, babbling Minions. The budget for the animated feature was also just $76 million--assuredly much less than that of Disney behemoth Monsters University. Given this performance, there will definitely be a Despicable Me 3 in the works. Its $142 million opening narrowly tops the five-day opening record held by Toy Story 3, and this feature shows all signs of being the top animated feature of the summer, if not 2013.

The Lone Ranger had a five-day debut of $48.9 million, and a regular weekend total of $29.4 million. But for a film that likely costs over $200 million, and doesn't have global appeal, that's horrible news. THR is already speculating that Disney will take a writedown that could top $150 million for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced feature, which was supposed to replicate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean by having Johnny Depp in a similar over-the-top role caked in makeup. Luckily, Disney has the successes of Iron Man 3 and Monsters University to bolster its bottom line, but this is a costly misfire that's only slightly better than last year's failure of John Carter.

Debuting in eighth place, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain earned $17.4 million since its Wednesday opening, $10.1 million of which came from the regular three-day weekend. That's an excellent performance for the stand-up comedy performance, which had a budget of just $2.5 million. That's also an improvement on the $7 million total for Hart's 2011 stand-up film, Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain. The comedian's strongest following is in markets like Atlanta and Baltimore, and the film's distribution plan has saturated those markets. Hart is definitely a star on the rise, and I suspect it won't be long before he toplines a comedy feature.

The Way, Way Back opened on Friday, and earned an encouraging $575,000, which amounts to a $30,000 per-screen average, the highest of any film this week. The comedic indie, which includes performances from Steve Carell and Allison Janney, takes place at a summer beach house and is a ripe offering for the dog days of summer.

This Friday, Adam Sandler and co. return for Grown Ups 2, and manmade monsters go up against alien ones in Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim.

'Despicable Me 2' and 'Lone Ranger' ready for fireworks

The first Despicable Me was a smashing success, and families and adults alike will be turning out this weekend to get their Minion fix in Despicable Me 2 (3,956 theatres). This summer is loaded with animated movies, but the strong reviews coming in for the feature so far means Despicable Me 2 stands a chance at being the cream of the crop, both critically and at the box office.

Blue Sky's May release, Epic, recently crossed the $100 million mark, and it's likely the weakest of the bunch. For the past two weeks, Pixar's Monsters University has held the number-one spot, even with last week's competition from The Heat and White House Down. The sequel has already earned $178 million. Still to come this summer is DreamWorks Animation's Turbo, Sony's The Smurfs 2, and Disney's Planes. Every studio doing animated movies has an offering this summer, leading to an incredibly crowded field. That's because when animated movies are done right, they're hugely successful both at the box office and, of course, through merchandising. According to FJI critic Kevin Lally, the Minion-filled tale deserves its expected $120 million gross from Wednesday through Sunday. The "boisterous, wholly
satisfying follow-up that takes the original premise in new
directions and provides memorable moments for its entire cast of
amusing characters," he extols.

What better way to celebrate America's independence than with a modern update to a western? Johnny Depp plays Tonto in The Lone Ranger (3,700 theatres), which our critic Frank Lovece dubs "an Old West superhero movie" that's far more entertaining than Man of Steel." However, while Man of Steel opened to $128 million over four days, Lone Ranger may end up with a more modest $70 million take over the five-day period. If audiences agree with Lovece that the movie is a "buoyantly kinetic,
full-of-heart adventure" that recalls Depp's memorable performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, Lone Ranger may end up higher, and play well in weeks to come.

Rounding out the offerings is a theatrical release of comedian Kevin Hart's 2012 standup performance at Madison Square Garden in Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (876 theatres). Our critic Marsha McCreadie calls Hart an "incredibly agile and
physically gifted comic," noting the Hart fans at her screening were enthusiastic.

On Friday, The Way, Way Back (19 theatres) will join the list of releases. The coming-of-age comedy about a teen boy finding his way by taking a summer job at a water park features a great cast of adult stars including Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, and Allison Janney. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who co-wrote The Descendants, penned the screenplay and make their directing debut with the project, a similar family drama spiced with a pinch of dark humor.

On Monday, we'll be back to report on the box-office fireworks of the long holiday weekend.

 

'Lone Ranger' returns to the saddle with a lower budget

By Sarah Sluis

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp commented on his recent trend toward starring in blockbusters. "Basically, if they're going to pay me the stupid money right now, I'm going to take it," he said. One of his next "stupid money" projects will be Lone Ranger, though the money just got a little bit less stupid.

Disney halted pre-production of the project in August when the estimated budget ballooned to over $250 million. The re-imagined movie will have a lower, $215 budget, thanks to 20% pay cuts from Depp, Armie Hammer, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinksi. If the production goes over budget, Bruckheimer Films, not Disney, will be on the hook. Variety mentions that the screenplay itself was reworked to rein in the budget, with "some pricey f/x sequences involving supernatural elements" eliminated. What might those "supernatural elements" be, you ask? Werewolves. Apparently, this was done in all seriousness. Depp, who has some Native American heritage, will play the Lone Ranger's sidekick, Tonto, who is also Native American, and he wanted the film to honor, not stereotype, the race. The werewolves (if they're still in the film at all) would be explained as being Native American mythical creatures that turn out to be very real. The choice to adapt Lone Ranger is an unusual one. Most of the remakes currently entering Hollywood involve properties familiar to the younger generation, but this twenty-something only knows of the TV series from pop culture references. Perhaps this level of pre-awareness is enough for a green light from Disney.

Depp's over-the-top Jack Sparrow won over audiences in part because his portrayal made fun of the ridiculously over-the-top spectacle of a film he was in. Will he go for a similar performance as Tonto in the Lone Ranger? The western will be working with a similarly effects-laden story with a large budget to match. Depp has a number of projects in the works right now (including Dark Shadows and The Thin Man), but it appears he'll be free when the production shoots early next year. Most likely, the movie's December 2012 release date will be switched up for a spot in summer 2013, unless they're as fast as the Ranger's "fiery horse with the speed of light and a cloud of dust."