Overview
- The film led the North American box office with an estimated $36.4 million for the Friday–Sunday July 4 holiday weekend and about $61.4 million across its first five days, according to studio estimates.
- That five-day total represents the lowest domestic opening in the Despicable Me/Minions franchise, underperforming earlier studio projections for the holiday frame and trailing the 2010 original’s launch.
- Early reviews have been unusually strong for the series, with a Metacritic score near 69 and roughly 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, though critics remain split between praise for its creativity and criticism of its humor and storytelling.
- International receipts of about $98–100 million pushed the global opening to roughly $160 million, giving the picture important overseas support that helps offset the weaker U.S. start.
- The film’s near-term outlook will hinge on continued overseas demand and holiday-week holdovers, with its estimated $85 million production budget making profitability likely if foreign markets and later weekends hold steady while smaller markets show mixed results.