Fearless Forecast - 'Despicable Me' Drops 'Eclipse'

What will the freefall for Eclipse look like this weekend? We should have a pretty good gauge based on how quickly it cooled off last weekend. What began with a sonic boom of $68.5 million on Wednesday is down to just 15% of that number almost a week later. And the trouble is, Twilight, like Harry Potter, doesn't invite new revellers to the party. It will do better thanks to IMAX ticket sales, but the raw numbers probably won't look too different. This week, there are two movies pulling very distinct audiences, though not specifically away from Twilight. Despicable Me will overtake Toy Story 3 as the animated movie to watch, but that's OK: Toy Story will become the year's biggest movie by Monday, Tuesday at the absolute latest. And by this time next week, it'll be the biggest Pixar movie ever. Despicable Me won't start out nearly as well, but it could capture some solid second- and third-weekend results, just as How to Train Your Dragon did. Animation, as a rule, has staying power. The other new release is Predators, serving an audience that has had little to cheer about this summer. It won't do huge business, but it should show up very solidly this week and, if audiences do find it, it could keep money trickling in after Inception next week. It could use more theaters, though, since it's only appearing in 2,700 houses in its debut. But it might be the week's top per-screen average performer among wide releases, edging Despicable Me. Having said that, the male action crowd is notoriously fickle, and sometimes they just never show up. With Inception looming, some guys may not bother with Predators at all and wait to weather the crowds until next weekend. The Top Five:
1 - Despicable Me ($38.5 million)
2 - Eclipse ($25 million)
3 - Predators ($23 million)
4 - Toy Story 3 ($17.5 million)
5 - The Last Airbender ($14 million)

Comments

[El Doucheo Bago]

I'll be seeing Predators.

[Honz Brix]

Going to Despicable today and Predators Monday