Weekend Box Office Report: July 5-7, 2013

Gru and Minions come back in a big way!

Three years after their first unexpected success, reformed villain Gru and his crew of mischievous Minions returned to the theaters with DESPICABLE ME 2, and stole the top spot at the box office with a weekend haul of $82.5 million!

Not only does that weekend figure match MONSTERS UNIVERSITY's three-day total from just a couple of weeks ago, but Steve Carell's animated counterpart has also already made $142 million (almost twice its reported cost) since the sequel's Wednesday opening — plus an additional $151 million from overseas audiences. The original DESPICABLE ME went on to $251.5M domestically and $543M worldwide.

DESPICABLE ME 2 is also definitely a crowd-pleaser, judging by the 'A' CinemaScore from audiences, surely due in part to those jabbering little henchmen (who are popular enough to demand their own spinoff, due next year). With no new kiddie competition until Fox's TURBO on the 19th, the Minions should keep their pockets stuffed and families amused for a couple of weeks.

As for THE LONE RANGER, well… let's say that Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski obviously wanted it far more than moviegoers did. The big-budget Disney movie from super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer was gunned down in second place with a $29.4 million weekend, and just $48.9 million total since its opening on Wednesday.

That definitely keeps intermittent megastar Depp on the down slope, at least domestically — DARK SHADOWS topped out at $79M in the US, but made an extra $165M overseas. THE LONE RANGER did somehow manage a 'B+' CinemaScore from paying customers, but the masked man and his faithful sidekick will need to keep their spurs sharp if their new adventure is going to ride anywhere close to the $215+ million budget and avoid becoming another JOHN CARTER-sized flop for the studio.

(At least Depp has company this summer on the list of underperforming top talent, after Will Smith's expensive AFTER EARTH crashed and burned, and Channing Tatum followed his sizzling 2012 with the stumbling actioner WHITE HOUSE DOWN. Given how active his pricey zombie epic has been, Brad Pitt must be chuckling, at least a little.)

THE HEAT is still on fire, losing just 36% of business from its opening last week to take third with $25 million. The Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock buddy-cop comedy is on track to shoot past the $100 million mark in short order. MONSTERS UNIVERSITY was in fourth with $19.5 million, and seems likely to surpass the original MONSTERS INC.'s $255.8M total (the Pixar prequel has also reached $400M worldwide).

WORLD WAR Z remained admirably ambulatory in fifth place with another $18.2 million, defying its afflicted production to scramble up to a $366M global total. Alas, director Roland Emmerich's big-budget D.C.-damager WHITE HOUSE DOWN can't make a similar claim, sagging in sixth with $13.5 million.

MAN OF STEEL landed in seventh with $11.4 million and $271.2M total (it crossed the half-billion global mark last week), while stand-up comic Kevin Hart's new performance film KEVIN HART: LET ME EXPLAIN opened on just 876 screens and has made $17.6 million since Wednesday (the comedian apparently covered the $2.5 million production cost himself).

THIS IS THE END and NOW YOU SEE ME round out the chart, while STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, FAST & FURIOUS 6 and THE INTERNSHIP take their leave. Steve Carell's human form appeared in the limited release of THE WAY, WAY BACK for an adequate $30k per-screen average.

Next week has giant robots punching giant monsters in filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's PACIFIC RIM, Adam Sandler and chums return for more immature antics in GROWN UPS 2, and in limited release, John Travolta and Robert DeNiro hunt each other in KILLING SEASON and director Wayne Kramer returns to crime with PAWN SHOP CHRONICLES.

What July release are you most interested in seeing? VOTE HERE!