Up against blockbusters like Paramount's Top Gun: Maverick and Jordan Peele's Nope, Illumination Entertainment's Minions: The Rise of Gru holds its own, and is steadily climbing the global box office charts. In its fourth weekend, the animated film saw Illumination's largest opening day ever at $1.1 million in Korea, bagging the Minions over $600 million worldwide. This comes after Rise of Gru claimed the largest opening weekend for France of 2022 at $7.1 million, staking the largest animated opening since the start of the pandemic in 2020, and second largest for an Illumination animation after Despicable Me 3.
While the little yellow terrors may be loveable thorns in Gru's side, they've succeeded as far as Illumination Entertainment is concerned. Every mishap and bumble earned Rise of Gru an impressive $342 million this past week, keeping the film right on track with its predecessors Despicable Me 3 and Minions. Though Rise of Gru's opening weekend surpassed the first Minions film, and this release has been the widest in the market for Illumination and Universal animation.
After Korea's astounding opening day cumulation, Rise of Gru's totals in the Korean market reached $6.3 million by the weekend's end, adding to the $1.7 million earned across 205 screenings in Taiwan, where the film once again banked the largest animation opening since the pandemic began. As far as maintaining its hold, the GentleMinions had an exquisite hold on the UK and Ireland, up 13% and taking in $3.6 million to round out the market's $33.5 million totals, just a hair below the first Minions and DM3. Additionally, Mexico topped $32.3 million over the weekend, surpassing DM3's lifetime, and Germany saw a $2.5 million bump to their now-$20 million totals. In Japan the Minions banked an excellent $10.7 million over the weekend, and Brazil's cumulation reached $15.2 million, again just a fraction below Minions.
The second Minions film, The Rise of Gru, takes place in the '70s and tells a young Gru's (Steve Carell) super evil origin story. Being a huge fan of the supervillain supergroup the Vicious 6, Gru auditions to become a new member, with the help of his numerous, somewhat unhelpful, minions. The cast for the film is surprisingly star-studded with the likes of Alan Arkin, Taraji P. Henson, Julie Andrews, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Russell Brand, Danny Trejo, Lucy Lawless and, of course, Pierre Coffin as the Minions joining Carell.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is now playing in theaters. Check out the trailer below: