Despicable Me 4 Projected for Huge Opening Weekend at the Box Office

Despicable Me 4 is about to do banana business at the box office over the Fourth of July. Universal and Illumination’s animated movie, which hits theaters July 3rd, is tracking to open with a massive $110 million – $120 million domestic over the five-day holiday, according to Deadline‘s projections. The first Despicable Me movie since 2017 will unleash Gru (Steve Carell) and his yellow Minions into 4,000 theaters and will snatch the No. 1 spot from Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out 2, the fastest animated movie to cross the $1 billion mark and the first (and so far only) movie of the year to do so. 

Including the $25.5 million already hauled in from 20 territories overseas, where the movie has been playing since late June, Despicable Me 4 is looking at a potential $200 million global box office by Sunday. That number counts the $45 million – $50 million projection from another 52 markets that will open the movie on Wednesday, including Mexico and Brazil. 

The six-movie franchise has staked out July slots since the 2010 first installment. 2022’s memes-fueled Minions: The Rise of Gru opened over July 4th (with a $107M 3-Day / $123M 4-Day), as did 2017’s Despicable Me 3 ($72.4M 3-Day / $99M 5-Day) and 2013’s Despicable Me 2 ($83.5M 3-Day / $143M 5-Day). 2015’s Minions is the highest-earning installment so far at $1.15 billion worldwide, and the Despicable Me franchise surpassed DreamWorks’ Shrek and Pixar’s Toy Story as the highest-grossing animated movie franchise of all time.

Where to Watch the Despicable Me Movies Online

Illumination hasn’t announced plans for a Despicable Me 5, but Carell hopes to continue voicing the world’s (former) greatest supervillain.

“It’s so much fun,” Carell told ComicBook. “Why wouldn’t I want to [keep voicing Gru]? I hope it goes on for as long as people want to watch it.” The IF star added the Despicable Me franchise has “been nothing but fun and rewarding, and my kids grew up with it. I love being associated with it.”

In Despicable Me 4, Gru and his family — wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) and their girls Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Madison Polan) — welcome a new member to the Gru family: Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal (Emmy winner Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Emmy nominee Sofia Vergara), and the family is forced to go on the run. The movie also features fresh new characters voiced by Joey King (Bullet Train), Emmy winner Stephen Colbert (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and Chloe Fineman (Saturday Night Live). Pierre Coffin returns as the iconic voice of the Minions, and Steve Coogan returns as Silas Ramsbottom.