What movie won the weekend box office?

In a weekend filled with summer blockbusters, only one movie could come out on top at the box office, and guess what? It wasn't a new release. No, Adam Sandler's new comedy Grown Ups 2 and Guillermo del Toro's action-packed Pacific Rim were both bested by...the minions! Yep, those loveable minions from Despicable Me 2 were the big winners at the weekend box office, once again.

Just because Despicable Me 2 took the top spot at the box office (taking in an additional $44.8 million), doesn't meant that its competitors were total bombs, but this past weekend's results clearly show the popularity of these great summer family films. We're well into July now, and I suspect a lot of parents are dealing with some majorly restless kiddos. What better way to entertain than by plopping them down in a crowded theater to giggle along with Gru and his minions in DM2 or to laugh along with Mike and Sully in Monsters University?

Anyway, back to the box office results: Despite dismal reviews, Adam Sandler movies continue to be extremely popular with moviegoers. Grown Ups 2 debuted with a very impressive $42.5 million box office take. Unfortunately for all of us, this means that yes, we'll probably be subjected to Grown Ups 3 at some point. This was Sandler's first sequel, and the fact that it performed so well leads me to think Sandler's already making mental lists of all the other sequels he wants to do (PLEASE not Jack and Jill 2, please?).

So, how did Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim perform in its opening weekend? Meh. The film took third place at the box office, with a $38.3 million take. No, that's not an outright bomb, but it's not good, especially considering the budget for this film was around $190 million.

Rounding out this week's top five box office films were the Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock comedy The Heat ($14 million) and Disney's The Lone Ranger ($11.2 million) - a definite box office flop for the summer.

I must confess something: We did not see any films in the theater this past weekend. While I have a passing interest in Pacific Rim, I'm not really in the mood to see the monsters vs. robots bit right now. I do have friends who went, and they all really liked it. Maybe next weekend?

What, if anything, did anyone see? Let's hear what you thought!

Photo courtesy of EW.com