So, let’s kick off this with some stellar news: two days after Shrek 5 was announced to drop into theaters in July 2026, Universal countered with the announcement of Minions 3 to open in 2027. Ah, so fate would strike forth, it seems; where there is Independence Day, it must be the return of Gru! Universal has seen great success in 2021/2022 when they dominated those weekends with select titles (ah, 2022 saw Minions 2 score a $123 million holiday weekend), while Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny crashed and burned last year.

So, Despicable Me 5 will probably be discussed for a release in 2028 or 2029, provided families still have fun with the yellow minions and their tricks. Despicable Me 4 continued to rule the world with a $44.65 million second weekend, a 40% drop. This is stellar compared to its 2017 predecessor, dipping to 2nd place in its second weekend with $34 million, and ever-so-slightly above Despicable Me 2‘s second weekend of $43 million. If yours indeed had to guess, with its current $437.8 million worldwide, it probably will comfortably reach $800 million worldwide. That boost from China (had this occurred several years ago) might’ve been a critical factor to having it leg like its siblings, but it’ll still settle for a win and more offerings in the pipeline. The demand for more minions and Gru couldn’t be any more robust.

Regarding other topics, newcomer Longlegs from Neon earned a substantial $22.6 million in its debut. The eerie, atmospheric thriller pits an FBI agent against Nicolas Cage’s serial killer and has earned strong reviews. With this debut, it is Neon’s third-highest domestic-earning film and should easily scare past I, Tonya, by next weekend. Perhaps the problem with the first half of the year with horror films was their track record reflecting the first half of 2024’s box office standards. Speaking of horror, A Quiet Place: Day One has passed $220 million worldwide, and it should not have had many endeavors to get past $250 million for the IP. It will be a trek to climb past The Nun II‘s $275 million or A Quiet Place: Part II‘s $297 million, but it’s a blessing of a resurgence for horror.

Inside Out 2 continues its monster run, passing $1.35 billion. It’s the second-highest-grossing animated film worldwide (only behind Frozen II) and will pass $575 million to make it the second-highest-earning feature domestically. Breaking the records to become the #1 film domestically and worldwide seems almost inevitable, but let’s give it another 2-3 weeks before we give our verdict.

Fly Me to the Moon earned a measly $10 million in its opening; no disrespect to Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, but the bar for original debuting comedies doesn’t trickle much of an effect any further. Most comedies are now interwrapped within IPs (ask Bad Boys 4, Inside Out 2, and the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine). Ms. Johansson has had much more flavorful numbers within respected IPs, while Tatum won’t get much mileage out of this (even with recent winners in Dog and The Lost City).

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is doing whatever it takes to crawl towards $400 million worldwide, Horizon: Chapter One continues to stumble, and MaXXXine will pass $15 million globally by tomorrow. The Lion King was re-released in 1,330 theaters for $1.076 million.

Next weekend, we will see the release of Twisters, Clawfoot, Widow Clicquot, and Oddity.