“Minions: The Rise of Gru” set off fireworks at the box office, collecting $108 million over the weekend. By the time that July 4th rolls around on Monday, the animated family film is expected to reach a sizable $127.9 million.
Based on those estimates, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” will smash the record for the highest film opening over Independence Day, overtaking Paramount’s 2011 blockbuster “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” ($115.9 million over four days).
Ticket sales for the fifth installment in Universal and Illumination’s popular “Despicable Me” franchise are a comforting sign that family crowds haven’t entirely forgotten about movie theaters. After Disney’s Pixar film “Lightyear” fell short of expectations, Hollywood had been looking at “Minions: The Rise of Gru” to test the viability of animated flicks on the big screen. That’s because moviegoers with young kids — a demographic that’s vital in driving overall box office revenues — had returned only in fits and starts during the pandemic.
Impressively, “Rise of Gru” almost matched its predecessor, 2015’s Minions” ($115 million over three days), in terms of opening weekend returns.
“This is a sensational opening,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Family animation, more than any other genre, has struggled to find its footing during the pandemic. This weekend, ‘Minions’ is breaking through and big animation is back in business.”
Overall, Fourth of July ticket sales are another encouraging sign that moviegoing is slowly but surely rebounding from COVID-19. In 2021, overall revenues around Independence Day tallied just $69 million as 20% of theaters were closed. Historically, the holiday that celebrates all things America can bring in between $150 million and $200 million at the box office, according to Comscore. This year, ticket sales are expected to fall between $190 million and $200 million from Friday and Sunday and look to hit $250 million by Monday.
It’s promising that several movies have been able to triumph at one time. For a while, pandemic-era releases like”Spider-Man: No Way Home,” F9: The Fast Saga” and “No Time to Die” dominated the moviegoing landscape while leaving scraps for everyone else. But as audiences of all ages return to the big screen, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” was able to succeed alongside Tom Cruise’s action sequel “Top Gun: Maverick” and Universal’s dino brouhaha “Jurassic World Dominion.” With the boost in attendance, domestic revenue in June 2022 surpassed $985 million, according to Comscore, marking the biggest box office month of the pandemic. It’s a huge jump from summer 2021, in which the month of June brought back $409 million. However it still trails pre-pandemic times, when June revenues regularly surpassed $1 billion.
Illumination veteran Kyle Balda directed “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which takes place in the 1970s as a young Gru (the baddie-turned-daddy from “Despicable Me,” voiced by Steve Carell) tries to test the waters of supervillain life. Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Julie Andrews round out the voice cast. Film critics were mixed on “Minions 2,” which holds a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, though reviews rarely matter for kids’ movies. Audiences awarded the film an “A” CinemaScore.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety