We had a pretty neat opportunity over the weekend film going audience. Pacific Rim, a phenomenal summer block buster that didn’t rely on existing IP, was going up against the scourge of cinemadom, Grown Ups 2.  A win for the former could signal a turning point in the battle between lowest common denominator and inventiveness. Instead Grown Ups made more than it’s predecessor and Pacific Rim settles for 3rd place. We all screwed the pooch on this one people.

But before we get into that, lets give props where props are due. Despicable Me 2 continues its dominating run by coming in first place against both newcomers this weekend. The $44 Million dollar weekend represents a great 46.4% drop proving that the interest in Gru and his minions is not as front loaded as some had suspected. The movie is homing in on mega-hit territory and should finish it’s run well over $300 Million.

But that’s not why we are here people.

Coming in second place was Grown Ups 2 to a total of over $42 million. I think we might now have that pesky question to the life, the universe and everything Douglas Adams wrote a whole lot about. How many millions are people willing to fork over opening weekend to a lazy, low brow ‘family comedy’? 42!

If you like this sort of thing (animated movie sequels, that is) then you will probably be excited to see the latest trailer for Universal’s Despicable Me 2. Universal opens its sequel on July 3, 2013.

Steve Carell is back in the lead with Kristen Wiig and Al Pacino joining him in the voice cast. The original was a big hit, grossing $543M worldwide in 2010 and spawning an Orlando theme park ride Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, so you shouldn’t be at all surprised to see a sequel on the way.

Check out the latest trailer after the break.

If you like this sort of thing then you will be excited to see the first teaser for Universal’s Despicable Me 2 has arrived. The first one was fun and this looks to be more of the same.

Plus, the first one made over $525 Million globally, so you should have expected to see a sequel as soon as possible. It’s only going to take about two years. Look for Despicable Me 2 to hit theaters on July 3, 2013.

Yeah, that’s more than a year away but things tend to get started earlier in the process these days to help build that important “brand awareness.” Although, with all that money in the bank from the first movie, the awareness is already pretty high.

Still, you can never be too careful these days. Enjoy.