‘Despicable Me 4’ Aims for Huge $125 Million Opening Weekend

©Universal/Courtesy of Everett Col

Gru and his trusty yellow sidekicks are gearing up to make a big splash at the box office on July 4th.

“Despicable Me 4,” the sixth installment in Universal and Illumination’s hit animated franchise, is expected to gross between $100 million and $125 million over the five-day holiday. The film got a head start on the weekend, arriving in theaters Wednesday.

According to current projections, “Despicable Me 4” will easily top the domestic charts, but it likely won’t surpass Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” ($154 million over three days) as the year’s biggest debut. The “Inside Out” sequel, which topped the box office for three straight weekends, just became the first release of 2024 to cross the $1 billion mark — and the fastest animated title to reach that milestone.

“Despicable Me 4” should nevertheless give a new boost to the dark rooms. After a slow start to the summer, the American box office is finally regaining strength, and we can hope that this rebound will continue with “Twisters” (July 19) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (July 26).

The “Despicable Me” franchise has become the king of the Fourth of July box office. The latest installment in the series, the 2022 spinoff sequel “Minions: Gru,” also came out around the holiday and broke the record for the best Independence Day movie opening with $123 million over the five days. It ended up grossing an impressive $940 million worldwide. As for its predecessors, 2017’s “Despicable Me 3” earned $99 million, 2013’s “Despicable Me 2” earned $83.5 million and 2010’s “Despicable Me” opened with $56 million, all over the same holiday weekend.

Directed by Chris Renaud and co-directed by Patrick Delage, “Despicable Me 4” brings back the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig and Miranda Cosgrove for more Minion mayhem. The story centers on reformed supervillain Gru, whose family takes in a son intent on tormenting his father. Gru’s life is further upended when a criminal mastermind escapes from prison and vows revenge on him. Reviews have been mixed (the film has a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), but critical sentiment rarely matters for this particular multi-billion dollar property.

Also this weekend, the third installment in A24’s slasher trilogy, “MaXXXine,” is aiming for a single-digit debut over the traditional three-day weekend. For comparison, the first film in the Ti West-directed trilogy, “X” (2022), opened with $4.2 million and ended its theatrical run with $14.7 million, while the sequel, “Pearl” (2022), opened with $3.1 million and ended with $9.8 million. In the third installment, Mia Goth returns as an aspiring Hollywood starlet in the 1980s who is targeted by a killer known as the Night Stalker. Elizabeth Debicki, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey and Lily Collins round out the cast.

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