1. Despicable Me 4
Universal/Illumination | NEW
$75M 3-Day / $122.6M 5-Day Domestic Opening Weekend
$230M Global Cume
Universal Pictures and Illumination’s Despicable Me franchise continues to be a perennial winner as the latest entry Despicable Me 4 handily topped the box office with an estimated $75M 3-Day opening and $122.6M 5-Day July 4 holiday weekend gross. The Per Screen Average was $16,938 on 4,428 screens for the Steve Carrell-led kid flick about Gru (the super villain gone good). CinemaScore was an “A” along with a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, although critical was a franchise low at 53%. These movies have proven critically bulletproof in the past with similar low scores in the 50s and 60s, so should not be a much of a factor in coming weeks. The success of Despicable Me and Inside Out also helped drive the total box office well above last year’s $128,259,642M July 4 weekend total.
Here’s how the 5-Day looked:
- Wednesday – $27.2M
- Thursday (July 4) – $20.3M
- Friday – $27.2 million
- Saturday – $26.8 million
- Sunday – $20.9 million
July 4 itself was the weakest day of the weekend launch, with Inside Out 2 also facing a downturn that day due to fireworks and festivities. While this gross is certainly not “despicable,” it fell short of achieving franchise-best status, although it did manage to top the debut of Despicable Me 3. Let’s compare 3-Day openings for the franchise as a whole…
- Minions (2015) – $115.7M opening/$336M domestic cume
- Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) – $107M opening/$370.2M domestic cume
- Despicable Me 2 (2013) – $84.2M opening/$368M domestic cume
- Despicable Me 4 (2024) – $75M opening
- Despicable Me 3 (2017) – $72.4M opening/$264.6M domestic cume
- Despicable Me (2010) – $56.3M opening/$252.7M domestic cume
A seven year gap since the last “Despicable Me”-branded release may have contributed to the lack of growth here, with many younger audience members identifying more with the Minions characters than Gru at this point. Let’s also take into account the Inside Out 2 factor, with that Pixar movie raking in 40% of Despicable Me 4‘s debut in its 4th frame. It’s arguable Illumination could have done better on this title if they’d stepped it a few further frames away from Inside Out, but this franchise has a solid July 4 weekend opening history…
- Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) – $107M 3-Day / $123M 4-Day
- Despicable Me 2 (2013) – $83.5M 3-Day / $143M 5-Day
- Despicable Me 3 (2017) – $72.4M 3-Day / $99M 5-Day
Having already brought in early grosses from a soft opening overseas, Despicable Me 4 continued to play well internationally as it opened in 52 new markets, bringing in $73M from 73 total territories for an international cume of $106.9M and a global cume of $229,559,000 million. The Top 3 markets for the weekend were Mexico ($12.6M), Brazil ($5.9M), and Spain ($5.7M), with holdover market Australia #1 overall with $16.1M. Studio reports that 24 markets have shown franchise-best debuts.
Globally, Despicable Me 4 earned $9.6M from 655 IMAX screens in 50 markets, with $8.3M coming from 400 domestic IMAX screens over the 5-Day holiday weekend ($20.5K per screen). Counting previous soft opening weekends the film has taken in $10.1M for IMAX with another 96 screens in 7 markets coming next weekend, including UK, France, and Germany.
2. Inside Out 2
Pixar | Week 4
$30M Domestic Weekend
$533.8M Domestic Cume
$1,216.9B Global Cume
Even though it got knocked off its 3-week perch at #1, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 continues to crush it with $30M for the 3-Day frame (-48% drop) plus $7,274,180 million on July 4, all as it shed 680 screens for a theater count of 3,760 and a healthy $7,979 PSA. The domestic total is now at $533,823,699 million.
Internationally Inside Out 2 brought in $78.3M (-31% overall) for a global weekend of $108.3M, an international cume of $683.1M, and a global cume of $1,216.9B. That’s enough to place it as the #5 animated film of all-time globally. While still about $100M behind Incredibles 2 domestically, it should surpass that film’s $1,242,805,359 global total within the week to become the #1 Pixar title worldwide. It earned $500K this weekend from IMAX theaters, with a global cume of $38.1M for those screens.
Here are the Top 5 international markets:
- Mexico – $90.2M
- Brazil – $55.3M
- UK – $50.3M
- Korea – $48.3M
- Italy – $39.6M
3. A Quiet Place: Day One
Paramount Pictures | Week 2
$21M Domestic Weekend
$94.3M Domestic Cume | $178.1M Global Cume
We told you on Tuesday that the Paramount prequel A Quiet Place: Day One could be heading for a 60% drop from week one, and that’s exactly what happened as the film took in $21M domestically in 3,688 locations, a steep drop from last weekend’s $53M debut. Clearly the lower audience score (73%) had a word-of-mouth impact, but the bigger culprit was likely the double trouble of two big family franchise hits (Inside Out/Despicable Me) squeezing out the competition for the holiday weekend. This title only dropped 20 screens across the country, so it wasn’t an availability issue. It does line up with the last installment, suggesting a genre trend…
- A Quiet Place – $32,970,049 million (-34% drop)
- A Quiet Place: Day One – $21 million (-60%)
- A Quiet Place Part II – $19,266,977 million (-59% drop)
Overseas the film took in an estimated $21.1M from 67 territories bringing the film’s international cume to $83.8M and the global to $178.1M. Eight new territories launched the film including Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Israel, and Finland. By far the biggest market is China with $15.6M after 10 days. All indications show that Day One should end up in roughly the same ballpark as Part II ($160.2M domestic/$296.6M global) by the time it leaves cinemas.
4. Maxxxine
A24 | NEW
$6,705,038M 3-Day Domestic Opening Weekend
In keeping with the previous two films in the trilogy, the Mia Goth-led Maxxxine gave studio A24 its biggest opening for the series with $6,705,038 million for a $2,737 PSA to open at #4. This third installment boasted a more star-studded cast than the previous two, with supporting turns from Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon. All this despite a downturn in reviews (75% on RT vs 94% for X and 92% for Pearl) and a “B” CinemaScore. The RT audience is at 78% and PostTrack listed a similar 76% positive and 59% definite recommend, along with 18-24 being the biggest demo at around 40% according to Deadline. Here’s how it stacked up to the previous two…
- Maxxxine (2024) – $6,705,038 million opening (2,450 screens)
- X (2022) – $4,275,126 million opening (2,865 screens)/$11,769,469 million domestic cume
- Pearl (2022) – $3,128,427 million opening (2,935 screens)/$9,423,445 million domestic cume
As you can see, Maxxxine is not only outperforming the previous two but is doing so on hundreds of less screens. Depending on how long a life it has, the Ti West film could wind up doing more business than the previous two combined, not to mention that horror trilogies tend to have a decent afterlife on home video.
This is certainly an oddball franchise, especially with the first sequel Pearl being released only six months after X. Despite rave reviews and accolades from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Pearl‘s 1918 setting and 50’s movie aesthetic may have alienated younger horror fans, hence the smaller gross. A two-year gap between Pearl and Maxxxine meant time for a fanbase to germinate as the first two played streaming channels, plus a sexier 80’s setting with a De Palma-inspired Body Double-vibe on the new picture means more youth appeal. This could wind up being the big specialty theater ticket of the summer even as mainstream screens dwindle.
7. Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot
Angel Studios | NEW
$3,219,811M 3-Day | $6,811,094M 4-Day Domestic Opening Weekend
The latest release from the upstart Angel Studios, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, debuted debuted at #7 with $3.2M for the 3-Day, although it enjoyed a $3.5M on July 4 for a domestic total of $6.8M. The true story of a rural church community which adopted 77 children opened wide in 2,200 locations for a PSA of $1,464.
Here’s the 4-Day breakdown, clearly front-loaded on Thursday the 4th but then proceeding steadily throughout the weekend…
- Thursday – $3,591,283 million
- Friday – $1,113,775 million
- Saturday – $1,102,637 million
- Sunday – $1,003,399 million
Last summer Angel Studios’ breakout hit Sound of Freedom over-indexed with a $19.6M July 4 weekend debut in third place, then astonished by jumping up +39% in its second weekend to take #2 ahead of Indiana Jones and Insidious films. It clocked out at $184.1M domestic and $250.7M WW. Clearly Possum Trot was attempting to capitalize on the “Sound of” branding, but wound up performing on par with Angel’s other 2024 film Cabrini ($7.1M debut). If the studio is planning “Pay it Forward” style ticket promotions for this title then it might have an uptick next week, especially considering the film’s A+ CinemaScore, but so far it is performing on par with this year’s fellow faith-based releases.
Other Notable Performances
Despite no change in theater count (3,334) and a continued media push from star/director/producer Kevin Costner, the epic western Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has officially stalled out with a -50% drop from #3 to #6 for a $5,480,000 million 3-Day take and $22,192,000 million domestic cume. There was no major July 4 bump ($1,875,000 million for Thursday), with the biggest day actually being July 6 at $2,030,000 million. At this point the best possible outcome would be a limp to $35-$40M domestic, with hopefully a huge spike for the digital release before Chapter 2 arrives in theaters on August 16. Internationally Horizon is making almost no footprint, with only $455,610K all-in reported from a handful of markets including Russia, Spain, and the UK.
Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates | Weekend 27 – 2024
Total Domestic Estimates: $156,453,364 | (+18.1% vs 2023)
| Title | Weekend Estimate | % Change | Locations | Location Change | PSA | Domestic Total | Week | Distributor |
| Despicable Me 4 | $75,000,000 | 4,428 | $16,938 | $122,620,000 | 1 | Universal | ||
| Inside Out 2 | $30,000,000 | -48% | 3,760 | -680 | $7,979 | $533,823,699 | 4 | Walt Disney |
| A Quiet Place: Day One | $21,000,000 | -60% | 3,688 | -20 | $5,694 | $94,356,000 | 2 | Paramount Pi… |
| MaXXXine | $6,705,038 | 2,450 | $2,737 | $6,705,038 | 1 | A24 | ||
| Bad Boys: Ride or Die | $6,550,000 | -37% | 2,644 | -668 | $2,477 | $177,359,000 | 5 | Sony Pictures |
| Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 | $5,480,000 | -50% | 3,334 | n/c | $1,644 | $22,192,000 | 2 | Warner Bros. |
| Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot | $3,219,811 | 2,200 | $1,464 | $6,811,094 | 1 | Angel Studios | ||
| Kalki 2898-AD | $1,834,000 | -65% | 625 | -424 | $2,934 | $16,500,000 | 2 | Prathyangira… |
| The Bikeriders | $1,300,000 | -61% | 1,562 | -1,130 | $832 | $19,336,000 | 3 | Focus Features |
| Kinds of Kindness | $860,000 | -45% | 920 | 430 | $935 | $3,833,371 | 3 | Searchlight … |
| The Fall Guy | $820,000 | 116% | 386 | -127 | $2,124 | $92,114,000 | 10 | Universal |
| Thelma | $790,000 | -41% | 1,274 | 54 | $620 | $6,848,544 | 3 | Magnolia Pic… |
| Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes | $638,000 | -64% | 700 | -950 | $911 | $169,635,255 | 9 | 20th Century… |
| The Garfield Movie | $510,000 | -75% | 806 | -956 | $633 | $91,066,000 | 7 | Sony Pictures |
| IF | $315,000 | -79% | 445 | -807 | $708 | $110,757,000 | 8 | Paramount Pi… |
| Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- | $175,000 | -83% | 857 | n/c | $204 | $1,665,000 | 2 | Crunchyroll |
| Janet Planet | $91,847 | -51% | 90 | -225 | $1,021 | $505,018 | 3 | A24 |
| Hijack 1971 | $72,000 | 62 | $1,161 | $72,000 | 1 | Sony Pictures | ||
| Robot Dreams | $30,800 | -37% | 38 | -18 | $811 | $631,637 | 6 | Neon |
| Seven Samurai | $19,000 | 1 | $19,000 | $290,736 | 3,529 | Janus Films |
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