Despicable Me 2 beats Johnny Depp's The Lone Ranger to top US Box office

The animated film took more than $50m more than The Lone Ranger in its opening weekend

Palmed off on kids: Steve Carell voices Gru in 'Despicable Me 2', a sequel with nothing for adults

Animated sequel Despicable Me 2 has topped the US box office chart, beating Johnny Depp’s The Lone Ranger to the number one spot.

The Universal Pictures animation made $82.5m (£55.4m) over the weekend, according to early estimates.

Disney’s The Lone Ranger, starring Depp as Tonto in a reboot of the radio and TV series, took just $29.5 million (£19.8m) after receiving a number of negative reviews.

Despicable Me 2 also topped the UK box office in its debut week, beating the opening of the rebooted Superman film Man of Steel.

The film, a follow-up to 2010’s Despicable Me, took £14.8 million at British cinemas in its opening weekend, in comparison to Man of Steel’s £3.6 million.

Despicable Me 2 stars Steve Carrell, who provides the voice for a dysfunctional father named Gru, alongside Kirsten Wiig (Bridesmaids) as his sidekick, Lucy Wilde.

It also features favourites from the first film, The Minions, small yellow henchman who have existed since the beginning of time, who are set to get their own spin-off film.

The reviews have been largely favourable although some have bemoaned the lack of adult humour.

The Independent’s Anthony Quinn wrote: “Kids will love the Minions, one-eyed, egg-shaped creatures that speak a weird nonsense lingo, though there’s not much to tickle adults.”

Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal Pictures, said a third Despicable Me film was in the pipeline.

“The Minions steal everybody’s hearts. It’s a great time of year to release a family film with broad appeal,” she told the BBC.