The Lone Ranger Opens Weakly While Despicable Me 2 Reigns Holiday Box Office

The Fourth of July week has been very good to Universal Pictures animated film, Despicable Me 2, the sequel to the 2010 feature. The film exceeded initial expectations and has grossed an estimated $34.3 million its opening day. However, The Lone Ranger which opened on July 3rd, didn’t fare so well at the holiday week box office. The movie adaptation of the popular television show brought in less than $10 million on its opening day. 

Despicable Me 2 features Steve Carell reprising his role as the supervillain Gru who is no longer a villain since saving his three adopted daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes from Vector in the first film (Despicable Me). But his calm and unexciting new life takes an unexpected turn when several of his Minions are being kidnapped and he is recruited by Lucy Wilde and Silas Ramsbottom and is taken to the headquarters of the Anti-Villain League, a society dedicated to fighting crime on a global scale. There he discovers that there is a new villain called Eduardo on the loose and because Gru was once a villain himself and knows how they think, Silas (who is the League’s head), wants Gru to help them fight Eduardo. With the help of Gru’s assistant, Dr. Nefario, his minions, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, Gru must save the world (again).

The animated film is already Universal Pictures’ biggest Wednesday opening as well as the eighth-highest Wednesday opening and third-highest opening day gross for an animated feature ever. Internationally, the movie has grossed $65.9 million through yesterday bringing its worldwide total over the $100 million after opening in a few select territories this past weekend and the weekend prior. It opens in 38 more territories this weekend.

The Lone Ranger stars Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp in the lead roles. It follows the Native American warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice known as The Lone Ranger. The film may fare better over the weekend but with its low opening, it seems likely to falter.