With an estimated five-day domestic opening of $122.6 million from 4,428 theaters, including a three-day weekend haul of $75 million after earning a stellar A CinemaScore, Despicable Me 4 dominated the Fourth of July box office, proving that Illumination and Universal’s Minions franchise is holding its own.
The fourth film in the main franchise and the sixth in the Despicable Me/Minions series, which is the highest-grossing animated franchise of all time, is off to a solid start, which is in line with predictions. New film grosses over $230 million abroad.
At the American box office, the original Despicable Me made $56 million over its opening weekend of July 9–11. After that, the film started opening earlier and became a hallmark of the Fourth of July. Despicable Me 2 debuted on a Wednesday (July 3, 2003) and made $143 million in its first five days. The 2017 third installment hit theaters with a $120 million opening weekend during the holiday season.
The top 12 films of the weekend, as of Sunday, July 7, are as follows:
| # | Title | Distributor Name | Weekend Total | # of Locs | Loc Avg | Cume Total | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Despicable Me 4 | Universal | $75,000,000 | 4,428 | $16,938 | $122,600,325 | |
| 2 | Inside Out 2 | Disney | $30,000,000 | 3,760 | $7,979 | $533,823,699 | -48% |
| 3 | Quiet Place: Day One, A | Paramount | $21,000,000 | 3,688 | $5,694 | $94,355,771 | -60% |
| 4 | MaXXXine | A24 | $6,705,038 | 2,450 | $2,737 | $6,705,038 | |
| 5 | Bad Boys: Ride or Die | Sony | $6,550,000 | 2,644 | $2,477 | $177,359,121 | -37% |
| 6 | Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 | Warner Bros. | $5,480,000 | 3,334 | $1,644 | $22,191,635 | -50% |
| 7 | Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot | Angel Studios | $3,219,811 | 2,200 | $1,464 | $6,811,094 | |
| 8 | Kalki 2898 AD | Prathyangira Cinemas | $1,793,374 | 925 | $1,939 | $16,057,065 | -68% |
| 9 | Bikeriders, The | Focus Features | $1,300,000 | 1,562 | $832 | $19,336,395 | -61% |
| 10 | Kinds of Kindness | Searchlight | $860,000 | 920 | $935 | $3,833,371 | -45% |
| 11 | Fall Guy, The | Universal | $820,000 | 231 | $3,550 | $92,114,085 | 116% |
| 12 | Thelma | Magnolia Pictures | $790,000 | 620 | $1,274 | $6,848,544 | -41% |
