‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ breaks Fourth of July box office record
Universal Pictures’ “Minions: The Rise of Gru” has risen above every other Fourth of July weekend opening with its record-breaking $125-million domestic box office haul this weekend.
Updated estimates from measurement firm Comscore released Monday push the latest installment of Illumination’s animated “Despicable Me” franchise past the previous record-holder, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” The third film of the live-action “Transformer” franchise collected $115.9 million during its four-day holiday opening in 2011.
For the record:
12:09 p.m. July 4, 2022A previous version of this story said there have been six movies in the “Despicable Me” franchise. There have been five.
Directed by Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” tells the origin story of evil mastermind Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) through the enlarged eyes of his silly, babbling yellow helpers (voiced by Pierre Coffin).
The 1970s references include Pam Grier, Elliott Gould and kung fu movies, but the nonsensical entertainment aimed at kids remains bewilderingly bad.
A sequel to the 2015 “Despicable Me” spinoff prequel “Minions,” “The Rise of Gru” originally was slated for a July 2020 release but was delayed due to the pandemic. The fifth movie in the popular cartoon saga — which launched in 2010 with “Despicable Me” — received a decent 72% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and a solid A-grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.
Still going strong in second place is Paramount Pictures’ “Top Gun: Maverick,” which made $33 million in its sixth weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $571 million.
Rounding out the top five are Warner Bros.’ “Elvis,” which added $23.5 million in its sophomore weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $71.8 million; Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World Dominion,” which devoured $19.7 million in its fourth weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $335.9 million; and Universal Pictures’ “The Black Phone,” which scared up $14.5 million in its second weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $49.6 million over the holiday weekend.
Opening in wide release next weekend is Disney and Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Paramount’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ starring Tom Cruise, exceeded box office expectations on Memorial Day weekend, unseating Disney’s ‘Doctor Strange.’
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