http://www.blogcdn.com/www.cinematical.com/media/2010/07/despicableme.jpg
That Despicable Me](http://www.cinematical.com/2010/07/09/review-despicable-me/) managed to open to $60 million a few weeks after Toy Story 3](http://www.cinematical.com/2010/06/19/review-toy-story-3-jeffreys-take) and before The Sorcerer’s Apprentice](The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) - Movie | Moviefone) makes it seem almost too easy. Not to demean the efforts of the fine folks who worked on the film, but it is starting to seem like 3-D computer-animated features with even a little marketing muscle behind them just can’t lose right now.
Granted, Despicable Me had the benefit of an all-star cast and favorable reviews. The weekend’s other major debut, Predators](http://www.cinematical.com/2010/07/08/predators-review), could boast neither of these things (though its reviews were somewhat better than expected, on account of the fact that it’s actually pretty good) – but it did have a franchise name, and the benefit of being the only R-rated genre flick at the multiplex right now. Its $25 million opening is pretty strong, considering, and far better than the miserable last *Aliens vs. Predator *movie. It shows the potential of well-timed counterprogramming. It may also take this series off life support (in a good way).
Toy Story 3 became both the highest-grossing movie of 2010 (passing Alice in Wonderland](Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Movie | Moviefone)), and the highest-grossing Pixar movie of all time (passing Finding Nemo](Finding Nemo (2003) - Movie | Moviefone)). Well-deserved on both counts. The all-time animation crown looks out of reach (it’s about $100 million away from Shrek 2](Shrek 2 (2004) - Movie | Moviefone)‘s monster $440 million number), especially with all the family film competition in the coming weeks, but I don’t think anyone at Pixar will be shedding tears. Meanwhile, Eclipse](http://www.cinematical.com/2010/06/29/the-twilight-saga-eclipse-review) looks on track to be the richest Twilight flick in a couple weeks’ time, and The Last Airbender](http://www.cinematical.com/2010/06/30/review-the-last-airbender) took the expected big hit in its second weekend (though still eking its way to $100 million).
The full chart after the jump.
1 - Despicable Me (Universal) - $60.1 ($17,295) - new - $60.1
2 - Eclipse (Summit) - $33.4 ($7,475) - 49% - $237.0
3 - Predators (Fox) - $25.3 ($9,479) - new - $25.3
4 - Toy Story 3 (Disney) - $22.0 ($5,862) - 27% - $340.2
5 - The Last Airbender (Paramount) - $17.2 ($5,354) - 57% - $100.2
6 - Grown Ups (Sony) - $16.4 ($4,736) - 14% - $111.3
7 - Knight & Day (Fox) - $7.9 ($2,987) - 25% - $61.9
8 - The Karate Kid (Sony) - $5.7 ($2,319) - 29% - $164.6
9 - The A-Team (Fox) - $1.8 ($1,456) - 44% - $74.0
10 - Cyrus (Fox Searchlight) - $1.4 ($6,875) - +78% - $3.5
11 - The Girl Who Played with Fire (Music Box) - $1.0 ($8,773) - $1.0
Next week: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice gets a Wednesday head start on the long-awaited Inception*. ***It’s a bit hard to tell if the fevered anticipation for *Inception *is widespread, or limited to geek circles.