Despicable Me 4 Dominates 4th of July Weekend Box Office

Illumination's latest Despicable Me delivers the second-biggest opening of 2024.

By Charlie Ridgely

For anyone who spent the first few months of 2024 worrying about the box office, the last few weeks have done a lot to prove that things are still okay for big screen entertainment. Not everything is a hit anymore, but a couple of massive family films have turned things around for the box office and gotten the year back onto the right track. First it was the record-breaking Inside Out 2, which has already eclipsed the $1 billion mark and is on its way to being one of the biggest animated movies of all time. Now, thanks to an enormous 4th of July weekend, Despicable Me 4 has dropped its name in the bucket for one of 2024's best box office showings.

According to the Sunday numbers from Variety, Despicable Me 4 has delivered a five-day domestic opening around $122.6 million, its three-day weekend standing at $75 million. Those numbers aren't quite as massive as Inside Out 2's opening total last month, but it's still good enough second place. The two animated sequels are the only two movies in 2024 to open to more than $100 million domestically, though Deadpool & Wolverine will likely join the party in a couple of weeks.

In addition to its big opening weekend domestically, Despicable Me 4 was also a great performer overseas. The film earned $106.9 million from international markets, bringing it to nearly $230 million globally over the last five days.

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Inside Out 2 has been able to keep its momentum going for nearly a month. It actually finished second place over July 4th weekend with a $30 million haul, despite being released back on June 14th. Disney and Pixar's juggernaut has now earned more than $533 million domestically and over $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated movie in history. It should have no trouble passing Incredibles 2 and Frozen over the next couple of weeks to move even higher on that all-time list.

While the top two spots at the box office this weekend belonged to animated fare, it was the horror genre that placed third and fourth. A Quiet Place: Day One earned another $21 million this weekend, bringing its domestic total to $94 million. Coming in fourth was the newly-released MaXXXine from A24, which earned $6.7 million. While that is a little under the initial projections, Ti West's trilogy-capper carries a smaller price tag than other summer movie offerings.

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