Let the fireworks begin.
The long July 4th weekend is turning into a craze for Hollywood as Minions: The Rise of Gru led the way for a massive four-day opening with $129.2 million domestically, according to early estimates. That figure includes $109.5 million over three days.
Globally, the film will hit the $200 million mark on Sunday.
Forget breaking a pandemic-era record for a family title; Illumination and Universal will boast one of the top openings ever at the domestic box office for a hit Hollywood animated feature, unadjusted for inflation.
Friday’s gross alone was about $48 million from 4,400 theaters, including $10.8 million for the preview.
The film’s performance is significant in that it confirms that parents and young children are ready to return to the multiplex in batches. During the pandemic, animation was seen as a challenging genre. And it doesn’t help that Pixar and Disney’s Toy Story spinoff Light year opened at $51 million last month before plummeting the following weekend.
So far, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2a live-action/CGI hybrid, holds the record for the biggest pandemic-era opening for a PG family film with $72 million.
In regards to Hollywood’s biggest 4th of July opening ceremony, 2011 Carrier: Shadow of the Moon earned $115.9 million in the same four-day weekend, followed by Spider-Man 2 ($115.8 million) and 2017 Despicable Me 3 (99 million dollars). If the estimate is kept the same, Minions 2 would easily rank at number 1. Some say Spider-Man: Homecoming the 4th of July entry, since the holiday falls midweek 2017, but it’s not a comparison between apples and apples (Come home launched the weekend of July 7-9, reaching $117 million domestically).
Another key moment: the overall gross for the weekend will actually be ahead of the same 2019 bracket as the box office recovery continues to gain momentum. Hold – and special Top Gun: Maverick – is also a major contributing factor.
The Rise of Gru is the sequel of 2015 Henchman and is the fifth entry in I am despicable franchise, is the highest-grossing animated series in history, unadjusted for inflation.
Entering the weekend, tracking shows that Minions 2 will open in the $70 million to $80 million range for a four-day holiday, but some believe it will do much more. If we go by the four-day number, the film will hold the record for the best opening. But if it’s three days ahead, it’ll lag a bit Henchman ($115.7 million).
Minions 2 will become the 10th Hollywood animated film to gross $100 million or more, a list led by Incredibles 2 $182.7 million).
Spectators give Minions: The Rise of Gru with A CinemaScore and strong exits.
The all-star voice cast includes Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Alan Arkin, Michelle Yeoh, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Taraji P. Henson, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, RZA, Danny Trejo and Jean-Claude Van Damme. The origin story reveals how the superhero Gru (Carell) and the Minions met when Gru was a boy in the 1970s growing up in the suburbs.
More to come.
