Minions: The Rise of Gru has definitively beaten Lightyear's disappointing box office takings over the course of its opening weekend. The fifth movie in the Despicable Me franchise was finally released over the 4th of July weekend, following a two-year delay due to the pandemic. Given the impressive box office gross, it's clear that the intervening two years have done nothing to dent the popularity of Gru's mischievous yellow sidekicks.
In just the opening weekend, Minions 2 has surpassed the box office performance of Lightyear, Pixar's Toy Story adjacent prequel/spin-off. Lightyear was the first movie from the beloved animation studio to release in theaters after 2020's Onward, but the draw of a Tim Allen-less Buzz Lightyear movie wasn't enough to generate big box office takings. Explaining the canceled theater release of Seeing Red earlier in 2022, Disney's President of Distribution Kareem Allen spoke of how family movies were still struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels of box office gross. The release of Minions: The Rise of Gru has finally broken this disappointing box office trend, placing doubt over Allen's earlier prognosis.
With a domestic gross of over $127 million, Minions: The Rise of Gru has broken Transformers: Dark of the Moon's previous record for the highest-grossing 4th of July weekend by over $14 million, but it's not the only record that the movie's broken. With a three-day worldwide gross of over $202 million, Minions: The Rise of Gru has swiftly become the highest-grossing family movie since the pandemic first closed theaters in 2020. It's another promising sign for the industry following the continued box office dominance of Top Gun: Maverick. As the highest-grossing animated franchise of all time, Illumination's Despicable Me is no stranger to challenging the industry dominance of Disney and Pixar's animation studios. However, such a huge defeat of Lightyear, a movie connected to the beloved Toy Story franchise is a clear indicator of Lightyear's failure to capture the attention of family audiences. Whether it's to do with the movie's more overt connection to the main franchise, or the broader appeal of its slapstick-centric comedy, there are several possible explanations for Minions 2's success. Here's why Minions: The Rise of Gru was able to so comprehensively outperform Lightyear.
How Minions: The Rise Of Gru's Box Office Compares To Lightyear
Minions: The Rise of Gru has grossed almost $219 million worldwide in the first four days of its release. It's a strong start for the family movie as the school term ends for the summer break, guaranteeing further ticket sales across the next few months. On its opening weekend alone, Minions 2 is far ahead of Lightyear's disappointing box office gross. The new Pixar movie currently has a lifetime global gross of over $188 million, which is nearly $30 million behind Minions 2's box office debut. The disparity between Minions 2 and Lightyear is thrown into sharper focus when comparing both movies' opening box office figures. Minions 2 had a domestic box office opening of over $125 million versus Lightyear's domestic opening of just $50.5 million. With a month's gap between the release of each movie, Minions will easily continue to rise up the box office charts. The movie's popularity will ensure continued screening engagements from theater chains, especially as the choice between Minions, the highest-grossing family movie since 2020, and the poorly-received Lightyear is a no-brainer when it comes to providing kid-friendly counter-programming to the imminent release of Thor: Love and Thunder.
Why Minions: The Rise Of Gru's Box Office Blew Lightyear Away
The GentleMinions social media trend has no doubt provided an unexpected bonus to Minions: The Rise of Gru's box office takings, but the movie's strong performance is no mere quirk of meme culture. Most obviously, the Minions are hugely popular with audiences old and young alike. Their puerile humor taps into the usually cynical theater audience's inner child and has been key to the success of the Despicable Me franchise. Their unique nonsense language and deceptively simple visual design have become embedded in popular culture across the five movies in which they've appeared. After being delayed for two years due to the pandemic, there's something cathartically stupid for audiences in the slapstick action and fart gags of Minions 2. People know what to expect from the Despicable Me/Minions movies. Lightyear, however, never succeeded in communicating to potential audiences what they could expect from the movie.
The marketing for Lightyear never quite succeeded in communicating the purpose of the Toy Story spin-off. It was billed as an origin story of sorts, presenting the in-universe movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear doll from the Toy Story movies. However, it had a completely new cast and, barring an expository title card, was completely divorced from the world of the Toy Story movies. Minions: The Rise of Gru is an uncomplicated origin story for Steve Carrell's Gru, casting light on his childhood and first interactions with the Minions. There's no mental gymnastics required for an audience to get on board with the Despicable Me prequel, something which can't be said about Lightyear's Buzz Lightyear origin story. The box office battle may have been a fairer fight if Pixar had released a more overt Toy Story spin-off. However, the confusion around Lightyear's marketing and the uncomplicated, childish appeal of Minions: The Rise of Gru has allowed the fifth Despicable Me movie to shatter box office records and leave Disney/Pixar's Toy Story prequel in the dust.