'Minions: The Rise of Gru' breaks Fourth of July box office record

Universal Pictures' "Minions: The Rise of Gru" has risen above every other Fourth of July weekend opening with its record-breaking $125-million domestic box office haul this weekend.

Updated estimates from measurement firm Comscore released Monday push the latest installment of Illumination's animated "Despicable Me" franchise past the previous record-holder, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." The third film of the live-action "Transformer" franchise collected $115.9 million during its four-day holiday opening in 2011.

Directed by Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val, "Minions: The Rise of Gru" tells the origin story of evil mastermind Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) through the enlarged eyes of his silly, babbling yellow helpers (voiced by Pierre Coffin).

A sequel to the 2015 "Despicable Me" spinoff prequel "Minions," "The Rise of Gru" originally was slated for a July 2020 release but was delayed due to the pandemic. The fifth movie in the popular cartoon saga — which launched in 2010 with "Despicable Me" — received a decent 72% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and a solid A-grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

Still going strong in second place is Paramount Pictures' "Top Gun: Maverick," which made $33 million in its sixth weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $571 million.

Rounding out the top five are Warner Bros.' "Elvis," which added $23.5 million in its sophomore weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $71.8 million; Universal Pictures' "Jurassic World Dominion," which devoured $19.7 million in its fourth weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $335.9 million; and Universal Pictures' "The Black Phone," which scared up $14.5 million in its second weekend for a North American cumulative gross of $49.6 million over the holiday weekend.

Opening in wide release next weekend is Disney and Marvel's "Thor: Love and Thunder."

For the record:
12:09 p.m. July 4, 2022: A previous version of this story said there have been six movies in the “Despicable Me” franchise. There have been five.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.