The latest addition to the Despicable Me franchise, Minions: The Rise of Gru has begun its journey at the box office. The Universal and Illumination production has begun showing across select theaters in the US and Canada, and it will continue to expand over the Fourth of July weekend.

The family-friendly picture has grabbed the best previews for an animated film since the start of the pandemic pulling in $10.75 million. Having opened in only 3,350 theaters and set to expand to 4,391 theaters this Friday, such numbers bode well for the film. When factoring that it will enjoy a far lengthier opening weekend given the Fourth of July celebrations, the current projections of the film grossing between $65 million and $75 million seem doable. The top-grossing animation series in history is a title owned by the Despicable Me franchise and this is without the bite of inflation. Within that franchise and should the projections hold, Minions: The Rise of Gru will be the lowest-grossing film of the lot besting only the 2010 haul of $56 million by the original Despicable Me.

When put into the context of present circumstances, however, The Rise of Gru has made the biggest opening day of the pandemic era as it has beaten both Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Disney’s Lightyear with both grossing $6.25 million and $5.2 million respectively. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 however, has the best opening weekend for an animated film since March of 2020 at $72.1 million. When comparing the opening reviews of other titles in the franchise, Despicable Me 2 opened with $84 million, before the arrival of the Minions which began with earnings of $115 million IN 2015. That was followed in 2017 by Despicable Me 3, which hit $72.4 million at its opening.

Minions

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Minions: The Rise of Gru is a sequel that follows a 12-year-old Gru growing up in the suburbs. The film will cover how he gets to meet the Minions as he idolizes a team of super villains, the Vicious 6. Gru attempts to join this team but as with these things, something goes wrong. Steve Carell returns to voice Gru. The Vicious 6 who have ousted their leader are voiced by Taraji P. Henson, Dolph Lundgren, Lucy Lawless, Danny Trejo and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Kyle Balda directs with music from Heitor Pereira.

Gru and the Minions have been box office royalty since they first came on the scene and this opening bodes well. Given the two-year delay due to the pandemic, it is time to welcome back our yellow friends. Minions: The Rise of Gru is now playing.