‘Despicable Me 4’ debuts with US$122.6M as boom times return to the box office

New York (AP):

After a historically bad first half of the year, the box office is suddenly booming.

Despicable Me 4, the Illumination Animation sequel, led the way over the United States holiday weekend with US$75 million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday and US$122.6 million since opening on Wednesday, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Independence Day holiday weekend haul for the Universal Pictures release further extends the considerable box-office reign of the Minions, arguably the most bankable force in movies today. And it also kept a summer streak going for Hollywood.

Though overall ticket sales were down more than 40 per cent from levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, heading into the summer moviegoing season, theatres have lately seen a succession of hits. After Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die outperformed expectations, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 rapidly cleared US$1 billion in ticket sales worldwide, making it the first release since Barbie to reach that mark. Last weekend, the Paramount prequel A Quiet Place: Day One also came in above expectations.

With Deadpool & Wolverine tracking for a US$160 million launch later this month, Hollywood’s summer is looking up.

“If you look at the mood of the industry about eight weeks ago, very different than today,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “The song says what a difference a day makes. What a difference a month has made.”

It helps to have the Minions at your disposal. Since first debuting in the 2010 original Despicable Me, each entry of the franchise — including two sequels and two Minions spinoffs — has been seemingly guaranteed to gross around US$1 billion. The four previous movies all made between US$939 million (2022’s Minions: Rise of Gru) and US$1.26 billion (2015’s Minions) globally.

That run has helped give Illumination founder and chief executive 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 more Minion mayhem. Reviews (54 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) weren’t particularly good for the latest instalment, which includes a witness protection plot and a group of Minions transformed into a superhero squadron. But in their 12-year run, little has slowed down the Minions.

“This is one of the most beloved franchises, quite frankly, in the history of film, and certainly animation,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “Chris Meledandri and Illumination have their finger on the pulse of what families and audiences around the world want to see.”

The continued strong sales for Inside Out 2 were enough to put the film in second place for the domestic weekend. Last week’s top new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, slid to third with US$21 million in its second weekend, with another US$21.1 million from overseas theatres. That was a steep decrease of 60 per cent, though the Paramount prequel has amassed US$178.2 million worldwide in two weeks.