(This article is based on projections, because this is a four-day weekend in the United States, as Independence Day falls on Monday, and many people are not working.)
Has Disney been dethroned as the king of animated family movies? Just maybe! Universal/Illuminations’ Minions: The Rise of Gru has landed the best July 4th opening weekend of all time, scoring a projected $127.9M. This marks the best opening for ANY animated film during the pandemic. The first movie in this franchise, Despicable Me, came out 12 years ago. There is clearly an audience that grew up with this brand and is flocking to this latest iteration. It has been reported that many teens are checking it out.
Like Top Gun: Maverick, this movie was supposed to come out two years ago. And like Paramount, the studio behind Top Gun: Maverick, Universal wisely chose to hold on to The Rise of Gru until people were willing to return to multiplexes post-COVID-19.
That messed with the marketing for The Rise of Gru slightly, as the toys and other merchandise hit stores in 2020 and wound up on clearance as no one had seen the movie. But… clearly, that didn’t hurt the film’s performance.
It scored a glowing A CinemaScore with exiting audiences, while PostTrak logged an 87% positive and a 71% recommend. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 72% critical rating and a 91% certified audience score.
Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar. While The Rise of Gru is drawing the family audience, this picture continues to draw older viewers, many of whom are returning for repeat showings. It earned a projected $32.5M over four days, bringing its running domestic total to $570.9M. Its global running gross is $1.1 billion, making this producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s best-performing film, surpassing 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
Last weekend, Maverick and Elvis were neck-and-neck, with Baz Luhrman’s King of Rock & Roll biopic narrowly pulling ahead. It was notable that Elvis did so well, as its primary audience was older females, the slowest demographic to return to theaters post-COVID.
The King is still shimmying at #3 this weekend. 55% of viewers checking it out were female and 33% were over 50 years old. Man… I am not of this generation, but that man clearly TRULY had them “All Shook Up.” The movie spelled it out pretty well (God, does Austin Butler SMOLDER in this role!), but it’s kind of remarkable that Elvis Presley still holds such sway over people over 40 years after his death!
Jurassic World: Dominion and The Black Phone round out the Top Five.
It’s worth noting that a new animated sequel has claimed #1 and has broken records, while another has completely fallen out of the Top Five after just three weeks — Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear. (See the first sentence in this article.) I’m personally still kind of scratching my head over why that movie bombed so badly.
Check out the Top Five below:
-
- Minions: Rise of Gru (Universal) 3-day $108.5M, 4-day $127.9M/Wk 1
- Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) 3-day $25.5M, 4-day $32.5M, Total $570.9M/Wk 6
- Elvis (Warner Bros.) 3-day $19M, 4-day $24M, Total $72.3M/Wk 2
- Jurassic World Dominion (Universal) 3-day $15.6M, 4-day $19.2M, Total $335.3M/Wk 4
- The Black Phone (Universal) 3-day $12.3M (-48%), 4-day $14.6M,/Total $49.7M: Wk 2
Well… enjoy your record-breaking victory, Minions.
Next week, Thor: Love and Thunder opens, and… well, that’s gonna be the #1 and might break a few records itself.
Check back to see how well it performs!
