Despite the poor reviews, Disney Pixar’s Cars 2 made an impressive amount and is likely to match Cars‘ weekend box office total.

Not only that, it may be one of the best weekend debuts in 2011.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Signaling a key victory for Pixar and Disney, Cars 2 earned an estimated $25.7 million at the Friday box office, putting it on course to gross as much as $67 million to $70 million for the weekend.

There had been concern that the sequel wouldn’t be able to match the $60.1 million grossed by the original Cars. Now, Cars 2 is looking to score one of the best debuts of 2011 domestically.

The film’s box office total is very likely being fueled by kids and parents who are less likely to care much for critic reviews. In the theater we saw Cars 2 in, children were rampant (an entire school class was in the theater).