There's no stopping the gibberish and slapstick gags of Minions: The Rise of Gru. Over the long July 4 weekend, the newest entry in the Despicable Me franchise is estimated to earn of $125.2 million domestically and become the biggest Fourth of July holiday weekend movie ever.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, when not adjusting for inflation, Minions: The Rise of Gru is on track to surpass the $115.9 million earned by 2011's Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the $115.8 million earned by Spider-Man 2. It will likely also surpass the previous pandemic-era record for a PG-rated family film by beating the $78 million earned earlier this year by Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
As of this writing, Minions: The Rise of Gru has earned $108.5 million domestically and another $93.7 million internationally for a global total of $202.2 million.
The film's success only cements that families and their kids can be ushered into movie theaters again in droves. Last month, Lightyear failed to bring in crowds and debuted with $51 million. But there’s something about those mischievous little yellow dudes that draws a crowd.
It also helps that Universal put in a staggering $285 million into advertisements and promos for the film, according to Deadline.
The popularity of Minions: The Rise of Gru can also partially be attributed to Gentleminions. Gentleminions are Gen Zers who have attended the newest Minions movie in hordes while wearing tuxedos and suits. It's a strange phenomenon that's popped up across Tik Tok, Twitter, and other social media.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is the fifth entry in the Despicable Me franchise and a prequel to the 2015 Minions movie. It follows Gru in the 1970s as he tries to join a group of supervillains. We gave the film a 5/10 in our review and said that it doesn’t live up to Despicable Me, let alone other popular animated films.
Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.