Update July 5: Yup, the Gentleminions did it. Minions: The Rise of Gru was top banana at the box office, with a $125.1 million box office — just slightly under its projected earnings, but still enough to top Transformers: Dark of the Moon for best North American 4th of July box office ever.
Original story follows.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is set to become the biggest North American 4th of July debut ever, according to Box Office Mojo. In its first three days, the movie has raked in $108.5 and is projected to do $127.9 million by the end of the holiday. That’s cool. It’s nice people want to feel heartbreak in a place like this with Minions like these. But…why now? Why is this the film that announces to the world that Da Movies are Back?
The Minions have been a part of our lives since 2010’s Despicable Me. From there, they became beloved by boomers in sincere Facebook memes. And in no small part thanks to that, they became fodder for ironic memes from millennials and gen z. Enter the so-called GentleMinions. Youths are actually showing up to screenings in suits, dressed up for the serious work of honoring Gru and his Rise. Not since Morbius has a movie been so enthusiastically ironically embraced. But unlike Morbius, Minions: The Rise of Gru is seeing big ol’ numbers. It’s because the Minions hit every quadrant: olds, kids, memelords, and people who want to briefly escape “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).â€