(EW.com) -- Over the extended 4th of July weekend, a lot of Americans lit up the grill and spent time with family. A lot unfolded lawn chairs and watched a fireworks show. And a whole lot bought tickets to see Despicable Me 2. The $76 million animated film from Universal and Illumination Entertainment crushed the competition in its first five days in theaters, earning a jaw-dropping $142 million — $82.5 million of which came in during the traditional Friday-to-Sunday frame. In fact, Despicable Me 2, which features the voice work of Steve Carrell and Kristen Wiig, led the box office to the best July 4th weekend of all time. Over the Friday-to-Sunday period, the Top 12 movies grossed $220.7 million, which marks the 10th-strongest weekend in box office history.
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"Despicable Me 2's" start just barely beat "Monsters University's" $82.4 million debut
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"The Lone Ranger" lassoed in a dismal $48.9 million
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Depp's last two films, "Dark Shadows" and "The Rum Diary," also severely under-performed
Like that film, @placeholder earned an "A" CinemaScore grade from audiences.