Box Office: ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ Shatters July 4th Holiday Records With $127 Million Debut

J. Kim Murphy Jordan Peele’s “Nope” is successfully sending a message to moviegoers: get out… and go to theater.The Universal release is expected to net a $44.5 million opening this weekend, marking Peele’s third consecutive film to debut at the top slot of the domestic box office.The first indication that “Nope” might just be a summer box office hit came from its Thursday previews, which brought in a strong $6.4 million.

“Nope,” the latest original horror film from “Get Out” mastermind Jordan Peele, made $6.4 million at the box office in its Thursday preview showings from 3,250 theaters. It opens on 3,785 screens Friday. “Nope” is Peele’s third film, and excitement from both horror buffs and critics has been high.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJordan Peele’s “Nope” grossed a solid $6.4 million in Thursday previews as it looks to be the rare blockbuster with a brain to succeed at the summer box office. The plot of the science-fiction horror film has been shrouded in mystery, but reviewers have likened “Nope’s” supernatural elements to Steven Spielberg classics such as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”The Universal release is expected to top the domestic box office, but estimates vary about what it will ultimately rack up, ranging from predictions of a debut of $45 million to something in the $60 million neighborhood.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentA Turkish biopic about 1980s pop singer Bergen, who grappled with a violent husband that hired someone to pour nitric acid on her face and later shot and killed her, is becoming a sleeper box office hit across West Asia.The potent female empowerment film, titled “Bergen,” follows the singer’s meteoric rise from cello player to becoming Turkey’s “Queen of Arabesque,” all while struggling with a partner hellbent on sabotaging her career. The pic is helmed by Turkish directorial duo Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay, who are known for works driven by civil liberties and gender issues such as the 2015 drama “Drawers,” about a teenage girl’s sexuality.Upon grossing a substantial $10 million-plus intake at Turkish cinemas, “Bergen” is now scoring brisk box office returns across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon and Oman.

Universal’s Nope, one of the few remaining tentpoles in a rebounding summer box office, looks to provide a lift this weekend with an estimated $50M start at 3,700 theaters with an eye at guys 17-34.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Thor: Love And Thunder” topped the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £4.06 million ($4.8 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

Refresh for latest…: There remains plenty of action at the international box office as we head into the dog days of summer and with fewer wide releases to come. This past week and weekend includes milestones aplenty for such films as Thor: Love And Thunder, Minions: The Rise Of Gru, Jurassic World Dominion, and the seemingly unstoppable Top Gun: Maverick. But it’s not a free-for-all as audiences now appear more discerning amid the recent barrage of big-ticket titles — adding to that, there is a very threatening heatwave across European majors which is complicating matters on several levels.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMarvel’s superhero epic “Thor: Love and Thunder” is nearing the $500 million mark at the global box office, a great result after only 10 days on the big screen.Over the weekend, the fourth comic book movie to center on Chris Hemsworth’s hunky God of Thunder has generated $60.1 million from 47 territories at the international box office and another $46 million domestically for a weekend tally of $102 million. With those ticket sales, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe installment has earned $264.6 million overseas and $497.9 million worldwide to stand as the sixth-highest grossing Hollywood movie of the year.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMarvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” managed to fend off three new nationwide releases to remain the No. 1 movie in North America.Though ticket sales for “Thor” cratered in its second weekend, falling by 68% to $46 million from 4,375 theaters, the latest installment in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe easily towered over a trio of newcomers: Sony’s literary adaptation “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Paramount’s animated “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” and the Focus Features period drama “Mrs.

The sharp drop is one that has been shared by almost every film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as “Black Widow,” “Eternals” and “Doctor Universe in the Multiverse of Madness also fell 67-68% in their second weekends. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” also fell 68%, but that’s to be expected after a historic $260 million opening, and it didn’t stop the film from legging out over Christmas to over $800 million domestic and $1.9 billion worldwide.

Variety.“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” whose henchmen The Post said “bring on the funny,” took home second place, earning close to $5.4 million.“Top Gun: Maverick” fell from the sky a bit by landing in third, with close to $2 million on Friday. A sequel to the Tom Cruise-helmed 1986 action-drama “Top Gun,” it recently flew past “Titanic,” snagging the title of highest-grossing Paramount film in its initial run in the studio’s 110-year history, per Collider.

In a remarkable benchmark for an adult, female-skewing movie, especially with a 2 hour 39 minute running time, Warner Bros.’ Elvis has crossed the $100M mark at the domestic box office.

Carolina” as a means of attracting young audiences, the film is also the first targeting a largely female crowd since “Downton Abbey: A New Era” earlier this year. That movie opened to $16 million after it brought in $1 million in its Thursday preview screenings.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterDisney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the fourth standalone Marvel story about Chris Hemsworth’s hulking God of Thunder, picked up $15.7 million on opening day at the international box office.The film is currently playing in 17 overseas markets, including Germany, Italy, Australia and Korea, and it will debut in North America and several other major territories on Friday.Overall ticket sales are pacing 39% ahead of “Thor: Ragnarok” (which ultimately collected $130 million during its opening weekend) and 24% behind “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (which scored a massive $265 million in its international box office debut).By the time Sunday comes around, the newest “Thor” adventure is expected to rake in at least $145 million to $155 million in North America (with some estimates reaching as high as $170 million) and another $140 million to $150 million from overseas markets. For now, “Love and Thunder” is not playing in China, Russia or France.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterGet ready for more Marvel mania.Disney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the fourth standalone story about Chris Hemsworth’s hulking God of Thunder and the second (of three) Marvel movies to play in theaters in 2022, is gearing up to turbocharge the domestic box office. The nth sequel in the sprawling MCU is expected to bring in anywhere from $145 million to $155 million over the weekend, with some estimates reaching as high as $170 million.

Denise Richards sported a classic red, white and blue bikini to celebrate Independence Day by the ocean in Malibu in a stunning photo to promote the launch of her own OnlyFans account. The 51-year-old actress caught the last glimpse of the sunset as she posed by the shoreline wearing a sparkling top with a pair of striped bottoms in a snap simply captioned "Happy 4th," with a prompt to direct her one million followers to her new online sharing site.

breaking a decade-old July 4th holiday-weekend box office record and becoming the 11th animated film in box office history and the first since “Frozen II” to earn an opening weekend of over $100 million. The “Minions” sequel tallied $125 million over the four-day holiday weekend, cementing the idea that family audiences feel comfortable returning the theaters in large numbers after a long pandemic-fueled lull.The $400 million global run of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” this past spring was the first sign that family films were making a comeback, but the struggles of Disney/Pixar’s “Lightyear” last month created some doubt in Hollywood over whether the video game adaptation’s success was a fluke.

Katy Perry, Bette Midler and Jessica Chastain were just a few of the many Hollywood stars engaging in social media protests against Independence Day in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade more than one week ago.

The previous record for the July 4 weekend was set back in 2011 by “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” with $115.9 million. Despite a two-year delay forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minions and the “Despicable Me” franchise they came from have not faded in popularity, drawing both families and general audiences in equal parts. The film in particular got a strong turnout from teens, who Universal reports accounted for roughly a third of the weekend’s audience.