Despicable Me 4 Sparkles at Holiday Box Office With $27 Million

Despicable Me 4 hit theaters yesterday and already raked in $27 million in its first day at the box office. Independence Day is here in the United States and the summer movie season is in full-swing. Despicable Me 4 sees Universal and Illumination joining forces again after 2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru. Steve Carrell is back as our lead characters and families are already filling theaters up to see the former spy’s latest adventure. Projections for Despicable Me 4 have the sequel at around $120 million for this long holiday weekend. While some may have expected a little bit more from this fourth installment on day one, look for more people to catch the movie today when some have the day off work. Another thing working in Despicable Me 4‘s favor is that A CinemaScore from viewers who have already made the trip to the cinema.

Recently, ComicBook had the chance to chat with co-driectors Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage about the surprising superhero inspirations in this story. They knew that kids and adults alike would react to the visual language of the superpowers really well. In fact, Despicable Me managed to get some of Marvel’s First Family into the DNA of the Minions too.

“I know for me, I was definitely thinking about simple powers that are very graphic and easily understood. We talked about a lot of things, but I think knowing the amount of screen time we had, which wasn’t much, [we went with] very kind of archetypal powers sort of in the vein and the look of the Fantastic Four,” Renaud told us. “So their powers aren’t exactly the Fantastic Four, but one thing that I like as a comparison to that group is the Fantastic Four powers are slightly goofy … The Invisible Woman, the fire guy, the rock guy, there’s something about it. It works great as a comic, but the visual and graphic sensibility of those powers really lent themselves to the Minions.”

What’s Despicable Me 4 About?

Families were always going to turn up for Despicable Me 4. The proof is really in the pudding for Illumination. Check out what Gru and his family are up against: “The biggest global animated franchise in history now begins a new chapter as Gru (Oscar® nominee Steve Carrell) and Lucy (Oscar® nominee 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 film 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 Oscar® nominee Steve Coogan returns as Silas Ramsbottom.”

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