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Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” — the latest animated film in the Despicable Me franchise — made an estimated $125 million domestically for its four-day opening weekend, according to Universal.
That gives the film the record for biggest opening over the July 4th holiday weekend, overtaking “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” which made $115 million in 2011.
The opening is a huge shot in the arm for theaters. The industry has been anxiously waiting to see if families — who have been somewhat reluctant to bring their children to the movies during the pandemic — would return to theaters. While there have been family-friendly hits such as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” this question became more pressing after Disney (DIS)‘s and Pixar’s “Lightyear” flopped at the box office last month.
But the performance of “Minions” shows that not only do families want to come back, but they’ll come back in large numbers for the right film.
“Families want to be in theaters,” Jim Orr,…
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