Minions: The Rise of Gru is Breaking Box Office Records

Minions: The Rise of Gru has made movie history with a record-breaking Fourth of July weekend box office total: $127.9 million. The movie’s release to theaters has sent thousands of families back to the cinema. The Rise of Gru is predicted to make $200 million. 

This could be due to the fact that the Minions franchise has already made $6 billion in retail sales. After 12 years of movies, toys, and other content, it’s impressive that they have held up their popularity for so long. 

Without a television series to keep the Despicable Me name out there, one might think that families would forget about them. But the yellow minions always find a way to stay quirky and relevant all at once. 

There were also many partnerships involved in the advertising process of this movie. Some of the partners include Zip Recruiter, McDonald’s, Levi’s, CarMax, IHOP, Liberty Mutual, and many more. Millions were spent on these partnerships, and millions more went towards separate advertising. The movie characters have been found in stores, on kid’s meals, in commercials, on billboards, and just about everywhere else. 

Family movies have struggled to gain a solid footing since the pandemic. When many theaters had to shut down due to COVID and lack of staff or mandated quarantines, they lost a large percentage of their yearly business. Once things began to return to normal with businesses opening up again and more people leaving their homes, cinema seemed to become a forgotten pastime.

Along with the rise of streaming services, many new movies will go straight to being streamed, removing cinema as the middleman. Now, theaters have had to fight to bring in more customers, especially in smaller towns. So it only makes sense that the Minions franchise would spend so much money on advertising. 

Minions: The Rise of Gru has ranked with the fifth-highest opening of 2022. With such a major success for an older franchise, we can only guess that they will continue to push the envelope with new and exciting content. 

Sources:

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/minions-the-rise-of-gru-independence-day-weekend-record

https://deadline.com/2022/07/minions-rise-of-gru-box-office-1235055270/