Despicable Me 4 Forecast to Dominate Box Office Over Fourth of July Weekend

Summary

• Despicable Me 4
  is forecast to make $200 million worldwide over the five-day Fourth of July weekend; the sequel has already amassed $25.5 million from international screenings which began on July 1.
• Gru’s (Steve Carell) big-screen return is predicted to make somewhere between $110 million and $120 million domestically, which could break the franchise’s record for best opening-weekend.
• Minions
  (2015) currently holds that honor for the film series’ best debut with $115.7 million.

Gru could theoretically become a $200-million man over the Fourth of July weekend. Steve Carell reprises the role of the diabolical baddie who turned into a loving husband and father prior to the highly anticipated Despicable Me 4. And, at the time of this writing, directors Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage’s Despicable sequel is forecast to make in the neighborhood of $200 million worldwide over the upcoming holiday (per Deadline). The 2024 summer movie season was nothing worth writing home about in May, but it’s clearly the animated adventures that are bolstering the June and July box office.

Inside Out 2 dropped in cinemas back on June 14, and the Disney/Pixar adventure made $154.2 million over its opening weekend domestically. Despicable Me 4 isn’t tracking to do that much business, but with a forecasted debut of somewhere between $110 million and $120 million, that would result in Gru’s latest film becoming the second best-opening of the entire summer. And the Carell-led flick already has a healthy head start.

Despicable Me 4 opened in several international markets on Monday, July 1, including Hong Kong, Portugal and New Zealand, among many more. Altogether, the Despicable sequel has already made $25.5 million in those markets, with Australia ($9.7 million), Argentina ($5.4 million) and Chile ($2.4 million) bringing in the most business, according to The Numbers.

Despicable Me 4 Could Set Record for Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend

Inside Out 2’s three-week reign as the box office’s No. 1 movie will come to an end when Gru (Carell) and company return to face off against the villainous Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) in Despicable Me 4. The film is already predicted to make $200 million globally over the Fourth of July weekend, but Carell’s Despicable return to the big screen could also set the record for the franchise’s best opening weekend, too. Currently, Minions (2015) holds that honor with a domestic debut of $115.7 million (per Box Office Mojo).

Although, it should be noted that Despicable Me’s $110-million-to-$120-million forecast is calculated according to how the film will perform over the five-day holiday weekend (July 3-7). Whereas Minions set the film series’ record-setting opening weekend over the course of only three days in 2015 (July 10-12). The silver medal in the franchise goes to the other Despicable spin-off, which is Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). Young Gru’s misadventures led to a $107-million debut.

Now, one might think that Despicable Me 4’s lukewarm Rotten Tomatoes score might hinder the film from achieving its $200-million global premiere. But, as it turns out, the entries in the movie series with the lowest Tomatometer ratings have made the most money at the box office. Those cinephiles interested in crunching and constrasting numbers can check out the film-by-film comparisons below:

• Despicable Me: 80% ($543.2 million)
• Despicable Me 2: 75% ($970.8 million)
• Despicable Me 3: 58% ($1 billion)*
• Minions: 56% ($1.16 billion)*
• The Rise of Gru: 70% ($940 million)

Despicable Me 4
opens in theaters on July 3.