While big-name stars were either blowing things up or traveling the world in search of enlightenment at the box office this weekend, the most significant milestone came from Toy Story 3, which has become the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Toy Story 3 knocked from the top spot Shrek 2, which had a worldwide total gross of $920 million. Toy Story 3 earned about $2.2 million this past weekend to push past the $400 million domestic mark and bring its worldwide total to $940 million.
Leading this weekend’s box office race was The Expendables, which opened atop the rankings with $35 million. It was followed by Eat Pray Love, which opened with an estimated $23.7 million.
The news was less positive for comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Despite solid reviews the popularity of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series among comics fans, the film opened in fifth place with $10.5 million.
Universal and Illumination’s Despicable Me landed in sixth place with an estimated $6.8 million in its sixth weekend of release. The film has grossed about $222 million domestically and $56 million overseas for total of about $278 million.
The effects-heavy family film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore finished in 10th place for the weekend with about $4.1 million in ticket sales. The sequel has earned $35 million domestically and about $22 million overseas for a $57.4 million total.
Also still in release is DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After, taking in about $355,000 in its 13th weekend. That adds just a bit to the film’s $237 million domestic total. Shrek Forever After has grossed $440 million overseas for a total of $677 million.
Lastly, Tales from Earthsea opened a very limited run on five screens, earning about $20,100. The Studio Ghibli film was released in Japan in 2006 and is directed by Goyo Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki. The English dub of the film is being released in the domestic market by Disney.
