Despicable Me Is the First Animated Franchise in History to Cross $5 Billion

Publish date: 2024-07-29

“Despicable Me 4” loomed large at the international box office, earning a mighty $88 million to top charts. The animated sequel’s global haul now stands at $437.8 million. Over the weekend, the “Despicable Me” series of movies became the first animated franchise in history to cross the $5 billion mark.

“Despicable Me 4” brings back Steve Carell as Gru, a reformed supervillain, and pits him against Will Ferrell as Maxime Le Mal, a former schoolmate turned bad guy and rival. The movie is playing in nearly 80 foreign markets, including China, where it debuted across 35,000 screens and 11,000 locations to earn $11.8 million. Universal and Illumination produced the movie.

Related Stories

Photo collage of Lionsgate franchises The Hunger Games, Expendables, and Saw. VIP+

What Lionsgate’s Partnership Deal With Runway Means

Playing Gracie Darling

Paramount+ Commissions Australian Mystery Drama Series ‘Playing Gracie Darling’ – Global Bulletin

Another animated smash, “Inside Out 2,” continued to rack up strong ticket sales around the world. The Disney and Pixar release earned $50.2 million from 47 material territories. That pushes its international haul to $777.5 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time, bypassing “Despicable Me 3.” Globally, “Inside Out” has earned a massive $1.36 billion. It is the only 2024 release to join the $1 billion club.

Popular on Variety

Warner Bros. also got a head start on the domestic launch of “Twisters” next week, opening the film in 38 markets, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil. The sequel to 1996’s “Twister” earned $11.5 million. Next week, the movie will open in much of Europe, including such major markets as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. “Twisters” stars Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos; it was directed by “Minari’s” Lee Isaac Chung. Universal has North American rights to the movie.

And Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” grossed $10.4 million from 67 markets in its third weekend of release. That brings the horror prequel’s international haul to $104.5 million, pushing its global total to $220.7 million.

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXOAjp%2BgpaVfo7K4v46dnKyomZiuo7jEZqSeZWRitq%2FAxKulmqyZpLuiuIybprFln5uzqq%2FEZquwoaOpsrO%2FjJ%2Bmq52ZnLtuvsSsrKWso2J%2Bc3%2BVaW5qbmZlfA%3D%3D