Universal/Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” has marked another milestone in the box office recovery process, breaking a decade-old July 4th holiday-weekend box office record and becoming the 11th animated film in box office history and the first since “Frozen II” to earn an opening weekend of over $100 million.
The “Minions” sequel tallied $125 million over the four-day holiday weekend, cementing the idea that family audiences feel comfortable returning the theaters in large numbers after a long pandemic-fueled lull.
The $400 million global run of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” this past spring was the first sign that family films were making a comeback, but the struggles of Disney/Pixar’s “Lightyear” last month created some doubt in Hollywood over whether the video game adaptation’s success was a fluke.