Box Office: 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' Breaks 4th of July Holiday Records With $127 Million Debut

'Minions: The Rise of Gru' set off fireworks at the box office, raking in $108 million over the weekend. By the time 4th of July rolls around on Monday, the family-friendly animated film is expected to hit $127.9 million.

Based on these estimates, "Minions: The Rise of Gru" will break the record for the biggest movie opening on Independence Day, surpassing Paramount's 2011 blockbuster "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." ($115.9 million over four days).< /p>

Ticket sales for the fifth installment in the popular "Despicable Me" franchise from Universal and Illumination are a heartwarming sign that family crowds haven't completely forgotten about movie theaters. After Disney's Pixar movie "Lightyear" failed to live up to expectations, Hollywood turned to "Minions: The Rise of Gru" to test the viability of animated movies on the big screen. Indeed, moviegoers with young children – a vital demographic for generating overall box office revenue – had only returned in spurts during the pandemic.

Impressively, 'Rise of Gru' nearly matched its predecessor, 2015's 'Minions' ($115 million over three days), in terms of opening weekend returns.

"It's a sensational opening," says David A. Gross, who runs film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. "Family-friendly animation, more than any other genre, has struggled to find its footing during the pandemic. This weekend, 'Minions' is having a breakthrough, and big animation is back in business."

Overall, 4th of July ticket sales are another encouraging sign that cinema is slowly but surely bouncing back from COVID-19. In 2021, overall revenue around Independence Day only reached $69 million, with 20% of theaters closed. Historically, holidays that celebrate all things American can bring in between $150 million and $200 million at the box office, according to Comscore. This year, ticket sales are expected to drop between $190 million and $200 million between Friday and Sunday and are expected to reach $250 million by Monday.

It is promising that several films could have triumphed at the same time. For a while, pandemic-era releases like “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” F9: The Fast Saga” and “No Time to Die” dominated the cinematic landscape while leaving remnants for everyone . 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 increase in attendance, domestic revenues in June 2022 topped $985 million, according to Comscore, marking the biggest box office month of the pandemic. That's a huge jump from the summer of 2021, when June brought in $409 million. However, it still lags behind the pre-pandemic period, when June revenues regularly topped $1 billion.

Enlightenment veteran Kyle Balda directed "Minions: The Rise of Gru," set in the 1970s when a young Gru (the villain-turned-dad of "Despicable Me," voiced by Steve Carell ) attempts to test the waters of supervillain life. Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Julie Andrews round out the voice cast. Movie reviews were mixed on "Minions 2," which holds 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, though reviews rarely count for kids' movies. Audiences gave the film an "A" CinemaScore.

'Minions: The Rise of Gru' is a joyful movie," says Jim Orr, President of National Distribution at Universal. "Illumination and [its CEO] Chris Meledandri have done an incredible job with this franchise. And Steve Carell as Gru… it doesn't get any better than that. »

For the "Minions" sequel, foreign appeal is key to generating profits, as Gru's highlighter-colored henchmen are particularly popular outside of the United States. International ticket sales accounted for 71% of total ticket sales for the first "Minions" spin-off. Already, the follow-up film has amassed $93.7 million, bringing its worldwide total to $202.2 million.

The other new release this weekend, Bleecker Street romantic comedy “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” flopped on its debut, grossing a measly $851,854 from 1,384. By Monday, the The film is set to cross the million-dollar mark – a grim benchmark for a nationwide movie.Emma Holly Jones directed the Regency-era film, starring Zawe Ashton (“Velvet Buzzsaw”), Sope Dirisu ( "Gangs of London") and Freida Pinto.

In second place, "Top Gun: Maverick" fell just 14% to gross $25.5 million from 3,843 theaters in its sixth weekend of release. During Monday's holiday, ticket sales are expected to hit $32.5 million. Paramount's patriotic sequel has grossed $570 million to date and is the highest-grossing film of the year in North America. Internationally, “Top Gun: Maverick” has collected $544.5 million for a worldwide count...