‘Lone Ranger’ a Train Wreck While ‘Despicable Me 2′ Shines for Explosive Fourth

Opening day grosses for Universal’s “Despicable Me 2″ soared with $34.3 million, while Disney’s big-budget “The Lone Ranger” is resembling the high-speed train wreck depicted in the movie, grossing less than $10 million on Wednesday.

The five-day projection for “Despicable Me 2″ is now at around $125 million, depending on how well the toon holds up on the Fourth of July. The holiday itself typically is a slow moviegoing day, especially for family films.

Meanwhile, “Lone Ranger,” which cost $225 million (not including marketing), sadly looks to be another “John Carter” for Disney, with opening five day projections upwards of $45 million. That’s a paltry sum compared to what Disney needed the film to earn, and even with star Johnny Depp goosing overseas prospects, it’s highly unlikely the international markets will warm to the iconic American Western enough to make up for slagging Stateside box office.

Both “Despicable Me 2″ and “The Lone Ranger” debuted Wednesday at north of 3,900 domestic locations.

Bowing at just 876 playdates, Lionsgate-Summit’s stand-up concert docu, “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” grossed an outstanding $4.8 million during its opening day, which should translate to somewhere around $29 million through Sunday.

Me think Lone Ranger movie bad idea Kemosabe!

I'm surprised they even made a movie out of the Lone Ranger. Not too many people under 50 have even seen the TV show.

I'm surprised they even made a movie out of the Lone Ranger. Not too many people under 50 have even seen the TV show.
They have made movies on just about every hero except " The 8TH Man "
They will never make a movie about that guy, won't even put him back on tv.

Things got better for the minions of "Despicable Me 2" and worse for Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and "The Lone Ranger" on Friday, as the animated sequel took in another $30 million.

That puts it on pace for around $77 million for the weekend, and a $140 million haul for the five-day July 4 weekend, roughly $30 million more than analysts had projected. The $76 million Universal-Illumination Entertainment production also has taken in nearly $94 million from 45 foreign markets through Friday, and will pass $200 million worldwide Saturday

Disney's adaptation of the classic radio and TV show, with Hammer as the title character and Depp as Tonto, brought in $10.6 million on Friday, and probably won't hit $50 million for the long holiday weekend.

That all but assures the action Western, from the "Pirates of the Caribbean team of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, won't recoup its $225 million budget and marketing costs. And it's starting to feel "The Heat" as it tries to hang on to second place, with both looking at three-day totals in the $25 million range.

Also read: Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer Cancel Trip to China as 'Lone Ranger' Waits for Release Date (Exclusive)

Fox's Melissa McCarthy-Sandra Bullock cop comedy passed last week's No. 1 film "Monsters University" with $8.6 million Friday. The Disney's Pixar prequel did $7.1 million and is on course for a $21 million three-day total.

"World War Z" and "White House Down were next.

Brad Pitt's zombie thriller added another $6.2 million Friday, could top $20 million for the three days and has now taken in nearly $160 million in three weeks for Paramount.

Sony's Channing Tatum-Jamie Foxx action epic brought in $4.6 million and will wind up at around $14 million for the three days. .

The week's other wide opener, Lionsgate and Summit's "Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain," and "Man of Steel" were close for seventh. The comedy concert film laughed its way to $3.7 million Friday at 876 theaters and is on pace for $10 million over the three days and around $17 million for the five days.

Warner Bros.' blockbuster Superman sequel added $3.8 million Friday, and has accumulated more than $530 million worldwide in four weeks of release.

Weekend Report: Despicable Defeats Ranger Over Busy Fourth of July
by Ray Subers
July 7, 2013


Over a very busy Fourth of July weekend, Despicable Me 2 had one of the best debuts ever for an animated movie, while The Lone Ranger got off to an underwhelming start. Meanwhile, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain crushed expectations and did fantastic business for a stand-up movie.

For the three-day weekend, the Top 12 earned an estimated $220.7 million. That ranks 10th all-time, and is the third weekend in the last four to rank in the Top 20.







Through its first five days, Despicable Me 2 earned an estimated $142.1 million. That's just ahead of Toy Story 3 ($141 million) for top five-day start ever for an animated movie; while the differing release patterns keeps that from being a true apples-to-apples comparison, it still does give a good idea how immensely popular the sequel was over the holiday weekend.

For the three-day period, Despicable Me 2 earned an estimated $82.5 million, which is on par with Monsters University's debut a few weeks ago. It's also way higher than the 2010 original's $56.4 million opening.



Despicable Me 2's marketing campaign was geared around driving awareness without really differentiating the product much. Advertisements used the "Guess who's back" line from the Eminem song 'Without Me' (odd choice for a family movie), and showcased the same kind of Minion antics that made the first movie so popular.

Typically, sequels suffer if the marketing doesn't present anything new; by bucking that trend, Despicable Me 2 demonstrated just how strong the Despicable brand is.



The movie's audience was 60 percent female and 55 percent under the age of 25. They awarded the movie an "A" CinemaScore, which suggests word-of-mouth will be good.

Ultimately, Despicable Me 2 should have no problem earning over $300 million, and if it holds up like Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (the last animated sequel to open over the Fourth of July), it could get past $400 million.







In second place, The Lone Ranger took in $48.9 million in its first five days. Among other expensive Westerns, that start is a bit above Cowboys & Aliens ($45 million) and Wild Wild West ($41 million), though Cowboys didn't have the Fourth of July boost and Wild Wild West opened 14 years ago.

The Lone Ranger was billed as "from the team that brought you Pirates of the Caribbean," but its opening doesn't compare favorably: the original Pirates movie also opened on a Wednesday and had taken in over $70 million through Sunday.

Adjusted for ten years of ticket price inflation, that debut translates to around $93 million.



For the Western genre, The Lone Ranger did have a good opening; unfortunately, that's a very, very low bar. With a budget over $200 million, Disney surely hoped The Lone Ranger would transcend its genre limitations, which is what Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl managed to do back in 2003.

However, when Pirates opened, Johnny Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow seemed fresh and exciting; after a decade of playing similarly wacky characters, his portrayal of Tonto in The Lone Ranger just felt like more of the same.



While the original Pirates movie opened well, its ultimate success came from fantastic word-of-mouth. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like The Lone Ranger will experience a similar bump: its "B+" CinemaScore and awful 25 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes suggests that it will perform similar to other major Summer movies (as in, fall off quickly from opening weekend).

In the long term, a total over $100 million is likely, though it won't go too much higher than that.

One slight positive for The Lone Ranger: its audience skewed older (68 percent over the age of 25) and male (57 percent), which is a group that usually doesn't rush out to movie theaters.







In third place, Sandra Bullock-Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat eased 36 percent to an estimated $25 million. In comparison, Ted fell 41 percent at the exact same point last year.

The Heat has now earned $86.4 million; if it plays out like Ted for the remainder of its run, it will ultimately earn over $160 million.







Facing tough, direct competition from Despicable Me 2, Monsters University plummeted 57 percent to an estimated $19.6 million.

The animated prequel has so far grossed $216.1 million, which makes it the 11th Pixar movie to pass $200 million; unfortunately, it now looks like it won't ultimately reach $300 million.








World War Z rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $18.2 million, which is off a very light 39 percent from last weekend.

With $158.7 million in the bank so far, it now looks like this surprise hit could close with around $200 million.







After a disappointing debut last weekend, White House Down fell 46 percent to an estimated $13.5 million this weekend.

To date, it's earned a weak $50.5 million, and ultimately won't come close to matching Olympus Has Fallen's $98.9 million.







In its fourth outing, Man of Steel dipped 45 percent to an estimated $11.4 million.

It's now grossed $271.2 million, and is still in the hunt for $300 million total.







Since opening at 876 locations on Wednesday, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain has earned an estimated $17.5 million. It's already the fifth-highest-grossing stand-up comedy movie ever, and has also already earned twice as much as Hart's last stand-up movie, Laugh at My Pain, earned in 2011.

Clearly, Hart has become a major draw; next year, he's got starring roles lined up in Ride Along and the About Last Night remake, both of which should benefit from his appeal.

The audience was 55 percent female and 54 percent were 25 years of age or older, and they gave the movie a very good "A" CinemaScore. This is the second surprise win for distributor Lionsgate/Summit this Summer following May's Now You See Me ($110 million and counting).







In limited release, Fox Searchlight opened Sundance hit The Way, Way Back at 19 theaters, where it earned an estimated $575,000. That translates to a per-theater average just over $30,000; in comparison, Little Miss Sunshine averaged $53,000 at seven locations in its opening.

Searchlight plans to expand the movie to around 75 more theaters next weekend ahead of a nationwide debut on July 26th.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3700&p=.htm









July 5-7, 2013 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Despicable Me 2 $82,518,000 / $142,076,000
2. The Lone Ranger $29,432,000 / $48,936,000
3. The Heat $25,000,000 / $86,398,000
4. Monsters University $19,590,000 / $216,127,000
5. World War Z $18,200,000 / $158,758,000
6. White House Down $13,500,000 / $50,478,000
7. Man of Steel $11,415,000 / $271,206,000
8. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain $10,100,000 / $17,460,000
9. This is the End $5,800,000 / $85,554,000
10. Now You See Me $2,770,000 / $110,415,000

Kids films generally make more money than any other kind of genre in Hollywood, based on the fact that it's both kids and adults attending the screenings of such films.

The Lone Ranger was much more than just a '50s TV series. With its beginnings in radio in the 1930s, LR was the most popular fictional western character of the 20th century. Lone Ranger comic books ruled the racks for years, and other publishers copied the character with their "Lone Rider," "Masked Raider," and many others. There was also a newspaper comic strip and mass-merchandising.

When you look at the best-known and much-imitated fictional heroes of the modern era, the Lone Ranger is in good company with Superman, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, and Zorro. It's also important to point out that the western genre is very popular worldwide, including Europe, so the money to be made from this film's distribution is only just beginning.

I never see n the long ranger tv shows I did download it on netlifx I enjoyed it it was before my time I don't under stand the hate for the long ranger I thought it was good movie I did like despicable me 2 better. im looking forward to Pacific rim and the wolverine

If I get a day off I'd like to see the Lone Ranger and White House Down.