NEW YORK —According to studio estimates Sunday, “Despicable Me 4,” the Illumination Animation sequel, led the way over the holiday weekend with $75 million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday and $122.6 million since opening on Wednesday.
Though overall ticket sales were down more than 40% from levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, heading into the summer moviegoing season, theaters have lately seen a succession of hits. After Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” outperformed expectations, Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” rapidly cleared $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 met expectations.
Hollywood’s summer is looking up with “Deadpool & Wolverine” tracking for a $160 million launch later this month.
“If you look at the industry’s mood 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 franchise entry — including two sequels and two “Minions” spinoffs — has been seemingly guaranteed to gross around $1 billion. The four previous movies all made between $939 million (2022’s “Minions: Rise of Gru”) and $1.26 billion (2015’s “Minions”) globally.
That run has helped give Illumination founder and chief executive Chris Meledandri one of Hollywood’s most enviable track records. “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% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) could have been better for the latest installment, 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 worldwide want to see.”
Family movies are powering the box office. “Despicable Me 4” performed strongly despite the still considerable drawing power of “Inside Out 2.” In its fourth weekend of release, the Pixar sequel added another $30 million domestically and $78.3 million overseas.
“Inside Out 2,” with $1.22 billion in ticket sales thus far, is the year’s biggest hit and fast climbs the all-time ranks for animated releases. It currently ranks as the No. 5 animated release worldwide.
Instead of cannibalizing the opening weekend for “Despicable Me 4,” “Inside Out 2” may have helped get families back in the habit of going to the theater.
“What happened, I think, is the release calendar finally settled into a nice rhythm,” said Dergarabedian, referencing the jumbled movie schedule from last year’s strikes. “It’s all about momentum.”
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 $21 million in its second weekend, with another $21.1 million from overseas theaters. That was a steep decrease of 60%, though the Paramount prequel has amassed $178.2 million worldwide in two weeks.
The run of hits has caused some studios to boost their forecasts for the summer movie season. Heading into the most lucrative season at theaters, analysts predicted a $3 billion summer, down from the typical $4 billion mark. Now, closer to $3.4 billion appears likely.
The weekend’s other top new release was Ti West’s “MaXXXine,” the third in a string of slasher films from A24 starring Mia Goth. In 2,450 locations, “MaXXXine” collected $6.7 million in ticket sales, a franchise best. The film, which follows “X” and “Pearl” (both released in 2022), stars Goth as a 1980s Hollywood starlet being hunted by a killer known as the Night Stalker.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.
1. “Despicable Me 4,” $75 million
2. “Inside Out 2,” $30 million
3. “A Quiet Place Day One,” $21 million
4. “MaXXXine,” $6.7 million
5. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” $6.5 million
6. “Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1,” $5.5 million
7. “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” $3.2 million
8. “Kaiki 2898,” $1.8 million
9. “The Bikeriders,” $1.3 million
10. “Kinds of Kindness,” $860,000