With $127.9 million in box office, Minions: The Rise of Gru dethrones 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, smashing July 4th weekend box office figures. The movie, which is a spinoff from Despicable Me and a follow-up to 2015’s Minions, traces the beginnings of Steve Carell’s Gru back to the 1970s, as he and his minions battle the Vicious 6 supervillain gang. The movie now has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 72 percent. Some critics have stated that the series’ attractions are beginning to wane, while the audience rating of 92 percent may imply differently for casual audience.
Minions: The Rise of Gru, produced by Illumination, is the fifth overall installment in the Despicable Me series. The movie was supposed to premiere over two years ago, but the COVID-19 outbreak caused a delay, and it didn’t air until the middle of June at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Along with Carell, notable actors including Piere Coffin, Alan Arkin, Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Julie Andrews, Russell Brand, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, and Lucy Lawless are featured in the film’s remarkable voice cast.
Per a recent Variety article, the movie broke all box office records for the July 4th weekend and is projected to earn $127.9 million by Monday. According to such projections, the movie will break the existing record, held by 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which brought in $115.9 million over 4 days. Minions: The Rise of Gru also comes very close to matching the box office success of the original Minions film, which brought in $115 million over the course of its three-day release.
The film is a positive indication that family-friendly films can still be top grossers at the box office after Lightyear‘s underwhelming $70 million over three days last month. Many animated movies, such as Luca and Turning Red, skipped theaters entirely and went directly to streaming since families with young children did not prove to be dependable cinema patrons during the pandemic. Minions: The Rise of Gru is just another indication that movie-going is ultimately recovering after many years of hardship, especially when combined with Top Gun: Maverick‘s progressively outstanding box office results.
Even though Minions: The Rise of Gru hasn’t received great reviews from critics, it’s clear that audiences have felt related to the movie. It’s still unknown why Lightyear flopped and Minions: The Rise of Gru thrived, although it’s possible that the former’s slightly muddled marketing and ambiguous connection to the Toy Story series contributed to its failure. But the movie belongs to a series that is immediately recognizable and has a distinct target audience, elements that definitely helped it perform well. What the future holds for movie theaters is still unknown, but latest box office result data suggests that family moviegoers are one more time feeling at ease to make their way back to the theater, though they might be more selective about the film they are going to watch.
