Despicable Me 4 debuts with $122.6 million

NEW YORK — After a historically bad first half, the box office is suddenly booming.

Illumination Animation's sequel “Despicable Me 4” led the holiday weekend with $75 million in ticket sales from Friday to Sunday and $122.6 million since its Wednesday release, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Independence Day holiday weekend's earnings for the Universal Pictures release further extend the Minions' considerable reign at the box office, arguably the most profitable force in cinema today. And it also helped Hollywood continue its summer hot streak.

Although overall ticket sales are down more than 40% from pre-COVID-19 levels heading into the summer season, movie theaters have seen a string of recent successes. After Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” beat expectations, Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” quickly surpassed $1 billion in worldwide ticket revenue, becoming the first release since “Barbie” to reach that milestone. Last weekend, Paramount’s prequel “A Quiet Place: Day One” also beat expectations.

With “Deadpool & Wolverine” set to debut with $160 million later this month, Hollywood's summer is looking promising.

“If you look at the industry mood eight weeks ago, it’s very different than it is today,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “The song is about what a difference a day can make. What a difference a month has made.”

It helps to have the Minions around. Since they first appeared in the original 2010 film “Despicable Me,” each installment in the franchise — including two sequels and two “Minions” spinoffs — has been guaranteed to gross around $1 billion. The previous four films have all grossed between $939 million (2022’s “Minions: The Childhood of Gru”) and $1.26 billion (2015’s “Minions”) worldwide.

The series has earned Illumination founder and CEO 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 the Minions’ mayhem. Reviews (54% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) haven’t been particularly kind to the latest installment, which features a witness protection plot and a group of Minions turned superhero squadron. But in its 12-year run, nothing has slowed the Minions down.

“This is one of the most beloved franchises in the history of cinema, and certainly in animation,” said Jim Orr, head of distribution at Universal. “Chris Meledandri and Illumination are listening to what families and audiences around the world want to see.”

Family films are leading the box office. “Despicable Me 4” has had a good run despite the still-considerable success of “Inside Out 2.” In its fourth weekend of release, the Pixar sequel has earned an additional $30 million domestically and $78.3 million overseas.

Inside Out 2, with $1.22 billion in revenue to date, is arguably the biggest hit of the year and is rapidly climbing the charts of all-time anime releases. It currently ranks as the #5 anime release worldwide.

Rather than cannibalizing the opening weekend of “Despicable Me 4,” “Inside Out 2” may have helped families get back into the movie-going habit.

“I think the release schedule has finally settled into a good rhythm,” Dergarabedian said, referring to the chaotic movie schedule caused by last year’s strikes. “It’s all about momentum.”

Inside Out 2's strong sales were enough to put the film in second place this weekend domestically. Last week's top new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, slipped to third place with $21 million in its second weekend, with another $21.1 million coming from foreign theaters. That's a steep 60% drop, even though Paramount's prequel has earned $178.2 million worldwide in two weeks.

The run of success has prompted some studios to raise their summer projections. Heading into the most lucrative season for moviegoers, analysts had predicted a $3 billion summer, down from the usual $4 billion. It now seems likely that the box office will reach $3.4 billion.

The other big new release of the weekend was Ti West’s “MaXXXine,” the third in a series of Mia Goth-themed horror films from A24. In 2,450 theaters, “MaXXXine” grossed $6.7 million, a franchise record. The film, which follows “X” and “Pearl” (both in 2022), stars Goth as a 1980s Hollywood starlet stalked by a killer known as the Night Stalker.

Angel Studios, which released last year's unexpected summer hit “Sound of Freedom,” has struggled to find the same success with its latest Christian film, “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.” It opened with $3.2 million.

Kevin Costner’s big-budget gamble, “Horizon: An American Saga,” didn’t do much to turn things around in its second weekend. The first chapter in what Costner hopes will be a four-part franchise — with a second chapter that Warner Bros. will release in August — earned $5.5 million in its second weekend. The film, which cost more than $100 million to make, has earned $22.2 million in two weeks.

Estimated ticket sales for U.S. and Canadian theaters from Friday through Sunday, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Despicable Me 4,” $75 million.

2. “Inside Out 2,” $30 million.

3. “A Quiet Place,” $21 million.

4. “MaXXXine,” $6.7 million.

5. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” $6.5 million.

6. “Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1,” $5.5 million.

7. “Sound of Hope: The Possum Trot Story,” $3.2 million.

8. “Kaiki 2898,” $1.8 million.

9. “Bikers,” $1.3 million.

10. “Types of Kindness,” $860,000.