“Minions: Rise of Gru” Breaks July 4th Box Office Records with $129M Opening

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog II, a live action/CGI hybrid, holds the record for the largest opening in the pandemic era with $72,000,000

For the July 4th weekend’s most successful openings in Hollywood, Transformers : Dark of the Moon made $115.9million. It was followed by Spider-Man (115.8 million) & 2017’s Depicable Me 3 (99 million). 

Minions II will be No. 1. Some people consider Spider-Man Homecoming to be a July 4th entry.

However, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. Homecoming was launched over the July 7-9 weekend and raised $117 million domestically.

Another important moment is that overall weekend revenue will actually be higher than in 2019, as the box office recovery continues to gain momentum. The boon is also due to holdovers, and in particular Top Gun.

The Rise of Gru, a sequel 2015’s minions, is the fifth installment in the Despicable me franchise. It is not adjusted for inflation and is the highest-grossing animated series of all time.

Tracking indicated that Minions2 would open between $70 million and $80 million for the four-day holiday. However, some thought it would do better. The film will set the franchise record for the highest opening if it is taken as a four-day average. It will be slightly behind minions ($115.7million) if it is measured over three days.

Minions II will be the 10th animated Hollywood movie to reach $100 million, surpassing Incredibles II ($182.7million).

Audiences bestowed minions: The Rise of Gru an A CinemaScore with strong exits.

The star-studded voice cast includes Steve Carell and Pierre Coffin. Michelle Yeoh, Russell Brands, Taraji P. Henson (Lucy Lawless), Dolph Lundgren. RZA, Danny Trejo, Jean-Claude Van Damme. The origin story tells how Gru (Carell), the supervillain, and the Minions met as Gru was growing up in the suburbs in the 1970s.

Top Gun2 continues its upward trend more than a month since it first flew into theaters. It looks like the patriotic holiday will continue to be a success. It is expected that the pic will drop just 9 percent to $26.9million for the three-day period. It should make an estimated $34million over the four-day period. This is after it earned $572.6 million Monday.

Elvis will be ranked No. 3. Its second-weekend gross was $18.5 million, and $23.7 million for the quartet. This brings the domestic total of the biopic to $72 million.

Jurassic World Dominion, and The Black Phone round out the top five. Universal will take three of the top five spots.