Animated features have a long history of outperforming. So it should come as only a mild surprise to see Despicable Me 2 beat out not only Grown Ups 2 but also Pacific Rim at the weekend box office.
According to reports, Despicable Me 2 edged Grown Ups 2 $44.8 million to $42.5 million in U.S ticket sales. Pacific Rim, a big bet for both Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) and co-financier Legendary Pictures, finished third with $38.3 million at the box office.
Color me surprised by the outcome, even if history says I shouldn’t be. Box Office Mojo data shows “animation’ as the fourth most common film genre, with 317 films accounting for some $18.2 billion in gross domestic receipts. Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA)‘s 2004 blockbuster, Shrek 2, tops the list at $441.2 million.
Despicable Me 2, at an estimated $229.2 million in the U.S. and $472.4 million worldwide, is a similarly huge success for Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and NBCUniversal. Guillermo Del Toro’s giant robots and Kevin James’ belly flops never really stood a chance against Gru’s mighty minions.
The minions are on fire! Sources: YouTube, NBCUniversal.
Next up is Turbo, which, if families continue to frequent animated comedies such as Despicable Me 2, could reap huge sales. The studio’s films have generated more than $1 billion in worldwide grosses in each of the past three years. March’s release, The Croods, earned $575 million during its theater run.
Presuming Turbo succeeds, is there still opportunity to profit from Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) stock? Not in the short term, I’d say. Shares of Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) Animation are up more than 56% year to date, which suggests investors are already expecting a strong showing from the company’s announced movie slate.
Now it’s your turn to weigh in. Will you see Turbo next weekend? Leave a comment to let us know what you expect from the film, and whether you would buy, sell, or short Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) stock at current prices.
The article Does “Despicable Me 2” Foretell Big Things for DreamWorks Stock? originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Tim Beyers.
Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of Time Warner at the time of publication. Check out Tim’s Web home and portfolio holdings, or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool recommends DreamWorks Animation.
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