Minions defeat Guardians
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole couldn’t claim the top spot from the minions of Despicable Me, opening at number two in Australia with $1,363,070 at the box office.
It was also number two in the US with U$10,887,429 in its second week for a total of U$30,079,298. Over there it dropped 32.4 percent and had a screen average of U$3,045.
With a reported budget of U$100m, the Animal Logic production (financed byWarner Bros. Pictures and Roadshow Films Pictures) has struggled to live up to the usual expectations for an animated feature of its size and pedigree.
In Australia it is school holidays season and the film is competing against other youth-oriented films, ultimately being kept away from the number one spot by Despicable Me‘s fourth weekend. In the US, it has had no direct competition during its two weeks of release – yet it hasn’t been able to defeat titles such as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and The Social Network.
The year’s highest grosssing Australian film continued to do well; at number 10, Paramount’s Tomorrow, When the War Began, earned a further $707,835.
These were the top 10 films in Australia over the long weekend:
| 1 | Despicable me | Universal | $2,731,356 |
| 2 | Legend of the guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole | Roadshow | $1,363,070 |
| 3 | The Last Airbender | Paramount | $1,223,350 |
| 4 | Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps | Fox | $1,163,262 |
| 5 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid | Fox | $1,100,658 |
| 6 | Cats & Dogs 2:The Revenge of Kitty Galore | Roadshow | $1,073,704 |
| 7 | Dinner for Schmucks | Paramount | $1,063,863 |
| 8 | The Other Guys | Sony | $795,828 |
| 9 | Easy A | Sony | $731,665 |
| 10 | Tomorrow, When the War Began | Paramount | $707,835 |
Even when I went to a preview screening of it, they had permission issues with the media key for Guardians, and they had to play Despicable Me in it’s place as they were unable to unlock Guardians for the screening 🙁
To be fair, apparently it looks fantastic, more realistic than anything else in it’s class. Shame it has done so badly in the boxoffice.
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