'Despicable Me' dashes off with $56.4M opening

Posted: 5:35 p.m. yesterday

LOS ANGELES &mdash The villain in "Despicable Me" tries to steal the moon, but the movie itself will have to settle for a huge opening atop the box office.

The first 3-D animated film from Universal Pictures debuted at No. 1 this weekend with $56.4 million, according to final studio figures Monday. That's about $4 million lower than the Sunday estimate of $60.1 million.

"Despicable Me" stars Steve Carell as the voice of bad-guy Gru, with Jason Segel, Russell Brand and Julie Andrews among the supporting cast.

The week's other new wide release, the sci-fi thriller "Predators" from 20th Century Fox, made $24.8 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "Despicable Me," Universal, $56,397,125, 3,476 locations, $16,225 average, $56,397,125, one week.

2. "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," Summit, $31,708,438, 4,468 locations, $7,097 average, $235,370,815, two weeks.

3. "Predators," Fox, $24,760,882, 2,669 locations, $9,277 average, $24,760,882, one week.

4. "Toy Story 3," Disney, $21,015,958, 3,753 locations, $5,600 average, $339,240,857, four weeks.

5. "The Last Airbender," Paramount, $16,635,471, 3,203 locations, $5,194 average, $99,712,757, two weeks.

6. "Grown Ups," Sony, $15,806,738, 3,463 locations, $4,564 average, $110,721,531, three weeks.

7. "Knight and Day," Fox, $7,719,251, 2,628 locations, $2,937 average, $61,808,110, three weeks.

8. "The Karate Kid," Sony, $5,365,636, 2,458 locations, $2,183 average, $164,301,124, five weeks.

9. "The A-Team," Fox, $1,752,421, 1,236 locations, $1,418 average, $73,923,594, five weeks.

10. "Cyrus," Fox Searchlight, $1,280,470, 200 locations, $6,402 average, $3,426,545, four weeks.

11. "The Girl Who Played With Fire," Music Box, $904,998, 108 locations, $8,380 average, $904,998, one week.

12. "Get Him to the Greek," Universal, $711,625, 442 locations, $1,610 average, $59,424,055, six weeks.

13. "I Am Love," Magnolia, $503,008, 111 locations, $4,532 average, $2,003,059, four weeks.

14. "Shrek Forever After," Paramount, $502,392, 461 locations, $1,090 average, $233,784,897, eight weeks.

15. "Solitary Man," Anchor Bay Films, $497,276, 176 locations, $2,825 average, $2,756,455, eight weeks.

16. "The Kids Are All Right," Focus, $491,971, 7 locations, $70,282 average, $491,971, one week.

17. "Winter's Bone," Roadside Attractions, $456,495, 106 locations, $4,307 average, $2,512,455, five weeks.

18. "Iron Man 2," Paramount, $392,755, 333 locations, $1,179 average, $309,237,294, 10 weeks.

19. "Marmaduke," Fox, $353,815, 383 locations, $924 average, $31,545,737, six weeks.

20. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," Disney, $348,308, 275 locations, $1,267 average, $89,004,440, seven weeks.