Illumination: ‘The Rise of Gru’ grosses $108 million in cinema weekend sales

According to Universal Pictures, "Minions: The Rise of Gru" made a projected $108.5 million in ticket sales across 4,391 theaters in North America. It is expected to have made more than $127.9 million by the end of the July Fourth holiday on Monday.

The movie is on course to surpass "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," which earned $115.9 million in its first four days in 2011, as one of the greatest openings for a July Fourth holiday weekend. Through Sunday, "Minions: The Rise of Gru" had earned $202.2 million worldwide, including overseas showings in 61 different regions.

This is only the most recent in a streak of lucrative family-friendly films from Universal, which also includes "Sing 2," which has generated over $406 million since its December debut, and "The Bad Guys," which has over $243 million. This is an indication that family consumers are prepared to return to the theaters.

“With the incredible success of ‘Minions,’ the notion that family audiences were avoiding movie theaters due to Covid concerns can be shelved,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

Data from EntTelligence shows that during the weekend, 54 percent of domestic moviegoers saw "Minions: The Rise of Gru," with 68 percent of ticket buyers belonging to family groupings.

After Disney and Pixar's "Lightyear" only brought in $51 million during its domestic opening last month, falling short of projections of $70 million and $85 million, box office observers questioned whether this group of moviegoers was still staying away from theaters, according to CNBC. It was unclear whether "Lightyear's" bad opening was due to stiff competition at the box office or whether viewers were misinformed about the movie's release.

The five "Despicable Me" films and spinoffs, which began in 2010 and have amassed nearly $3.7 billion at the global box office, have been a huge hit for Universal and Illumination.

The pandemic caused a two-year delay in the release of the "Despicable Me" spinoff. The first release date for the "Minions" sequel from 2015 was July 2020. "Minions" stuck with its plan to premiere exclusively in theaters whilst many other animated family movies settled for streaming or hybrid distribution. Analysts claim the wait seemed to have been worthwhile.

"Top Gun: Maverick" came in second place and has been performing well after six weeks, bringing its total to $25.5 million, which has already reached $1 billion.

The triumphant return of families to the movies this weekend, according to Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com, dispels the persistent and out-of-date pandemic fallacy that parents and children exclusively prefer to watch movies at home. When the appropriate content is available, viewers will flock theaters.

On Monday, the movie is anticipated to sell another $20 million worth of tickets in the United States and Canada, increasing its holiday weekend earnings to $128 million.