“Turbo” places third in box office after first weekend in theaters

The much ballyhooed DreamWorks film “Turbo” opened in theaters over the weekend and was the third highest grossing film behind “Despicable Me 2” and “The Conjuring.” According to Yahoo! Movies, “Turbo” grossed $21.5 million over the weekend.

This is good news for supporters of the movie as the film drew just $3.5 million less than “Despicable Me 2” which is a sequel to the widely popular original released in 2010. The winner this weekend was “The Conjuring,” which grossed over $41.5 million.

Forbes called “Turbo’s” weekend “slightly face-saving” despite recording it as DreamWorks’ lowest grossing weekend opener since “Flushed Away” in 2006 ($18 million). The website added that Turbo will benefit in having a potential “potential mascot character, the kind of protagonist who can be sold as a stuffed animal and show up as part of a theme park attraction.”

There are certainly worse things that could be said about something attached to the often-unstable Indianapolis Motor Speedway brand in recent years.

The benefit for “Turbo” in the eyes of the IndyCar marketing department reaches far deeper than box office results. In “Turbo,” IndyCar has a main character that can draw children to open-wheel racing at an early age and mold them into diehard fans.

For a sport struggling to make waves upon a younger demographic, “Turbo” is invaluable.