Despicable Me 4 opened the weekend box office with $75-million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday.Illumination & Universal Pictures/The Associated Press
After a historically bad first half of the year, the box office is suddenly booming.
Despicable Me 4, the Illumination Animation sequel, led the way over the holiday weekend with US$75-million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday and US$122.6-million since opening on Wednesday, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Independence Day holiday weekend haul for the Universal Pictures release further extends the considerable box-office reign of the Minions, arguably the most bankable force in movies today. And it also kept a summer streak going for Hollywood.
Though overall ticket sales were down more than 40 per cent from levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, heading into the summer moviegoing season, theatres have lately seen a succession of hits. After Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die outperformed expectations, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 rapidly cleared US$1-billion in ticket sales worldwide, making it the first release since Barbie to reach that mark. Last weekend, the Paramount prequel A Quiet Place: Day One also came in above expectations.
With Deadpool & Wolverine tracking for a US$160-million launch later this month, Hollywood’s summer is looking up.
“If you look at the mood of the industry about eight weeks ago, very different than today,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “The song says what a difference a day makes. What a difference a month has made.”
It helps to have the Minions at your disposal. Since first debuting in the 2010 original Despicable Me, each entry of the franchise – including two sequels and two Minions spinoffs – has been seemingly guaranteed to gross around US$1-billion. The four previous movies all made between US$939-million (2022’s Minions: Rise of Gru) and US$1.26-billion (2015’s Minions) globally.
That run has helped give Illumination founder and chief executive Chris Meledandri one of the most enviable track records in Hollywood. Despicable Me 4, directed by Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage, returns the voice cast led by Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig and doubles down on more Minion mayhem. Reviews (54 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) weren’t particularly good for the latest installment, which includes a witness protection plot and a group of Minions transformed into a superhero squadron. But in their 12-year run, little has slowed down the Minions.
“This is one of the most beloved franchises, quite frankly, in the history of film, and certainly animation,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “Chris Meledandri and Illumination have their finger on the pulse of what families and audiences around the world want to see.”
Family movies are powering the box office. Despicable Me 4 performed strongly despite the still considerable drawing power of Inside Out 2. In its fourth weekend of release, the Pixar sequel added another US$30-million domestically and US$78.3-million overseas.
Inside Out 2, with US$1.22-billion in ticket sales thus far, is easily the year’s biggest hit and is fast climbing up the all-time ranks for animated releases. It currently ranks as the No. 5 animated release worldwide.
Instead of cannibalizing the opening weekend for Despicable Me 4, Inside Out 2 may have helped get families back in the habit of heading to theatres.
“What happened, I think, is the release calendar finally settled into a nice rhythm,” said Dergarabedian, referencing the jumbled movie schedule from last year’s strikes. “It’s all about momentum.”
The continued strong sales for Inside Out 2 were enough to put the film in second place for the domestic weekend. Last week’s top new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, slid to third with US$21-million in its second weekend, with another US$21.1-million from overseas theaters. That was a steep decrease of 60 per cent, though the Paramount prequel has amassed US$178.2-million worldwide in two weeks.
The run of hits has caused some studios to boost their forecasts for the summer movie season. Heading into the most lucrative season at theaters, analysts were predicting a US$3-billion summer, down from the more typical US$4-billion mark. Now, closer to US$3.4-billion appears likely.
The weekend’s other top new release was Ti West’s MaXXXine, the third in a string of slasher films from A24 starring Mia Goth. In 2,450 locations, MaXXXine collected US$6.7-million in ticket sales, a franchise best. The film, which follows X and Pearl (both released in 2022), stars Goth as a 1980s Hollywood starlet being hunted by a killer known as the Night Stalker.
Angel Studios, which last year released the unexpected summer hit Sound of Freedom, struggled to find the same success with its latest Christian film, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot. It debuted with US$3.2-million.
Kevin Costner’s big-budget gamble, Horizon: An American Saga, didn’t do much to turn around its fortunes in its second weekend. The first chapter in what Costner hopes will be a four-part franchise – including a chapter two Warner Bros. will release in August – earned US$5.5-million in its second weekend. The film, which cost more than US$100-million to make, has grossed US$22.2-million in two weeks.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
- Despicable Me 4, US$75-million.
- Inside Out 2, US$30-million.
- A Quiet Place: Day One, US$21-million.
- MaXXXine, US$6.7-million.
- Bad Boys: Ride or Die, US$6.5-million.
- Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1, US$5.5-million.
- Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, US$3.2-million.
- Kaiki 2898, US$1.8-million.
- The Bikeriders, US$1.3-million.
- Kinds of Kindness, US$860,000.