Despicable Me 2 outpaces The Lone Ranger

'Despicable Me 2' can now boast the second-highest July 4 opening behind Michael Bay's 'Transformers' debut, which earned $29 million back in 2007.

The animated film (which cost  $76 million to make) looks set to trounce Disney's updated take on 'The Lone Ranger' starring Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the masked Western hero for the No.1 slot at the box office.

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Heading into the weekend, the 3D film, which features the voices of Steve Carrell, Kristen Wiig and Russell Brand, had grossed $59.5 million, and estimates have it on track to earn more than $130 million by the end of the five-day period.

'The Lone Ranger', reported to have cost a huge $250 million to make, couldn't keep pace. The film's three-day total heading into the weekend was an estimated $30 million at an average of $10 million per day.

At that pace the movie stands to earn less than half of Universal Pictures' 'Despicable Me 2' by the time its opening weekend ends.

Disney was hoping to match the success of its 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise by teaming director Gore Verbinski, star Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the film.

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But scathing reviews from critics and a poor audience reaction has left the movie being likened to the fate of 'John Carter', which lost Disney $200 million last year.

The movie, based on the 1930s radio show and 1950s TV series, was announced by Disney back in 2008 but production was apparently halted by the studio until producer Bruckheimer cut costs, according to 'Bloomberg'.

The website reports that Westerns are often thought of as a risk in the current movie climate.

Movie goers may also have been put off by critical reaction to the film which tells the story from Tonto’s point of view with Hammer's Lone Ranger out to avenge the murder of his brother.

Disney's 'Monsters University' should remain in the top five with an estimated $7 million as of Friday, which pushes the gross earnings for the sequel to 'Monsters Inc.' over the $200 million mark.

In other openings, the Kevin Hart stand-up movie 'Let Me Explain' took in the second-highest per-screen average (behind 'Despicable Me 2') of the holiday. The film earned an estimated two-day gross of $7 million on 876 screens heading into the weekend.

The top five for the weekend is expected to be rounded out by Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy's female buddy movie, 'The Heat', which as of Friday had earned an estimated $8.9 million, and 'World War Z',  with Brad Pitt, which earned more than $6 million.