Illumination Entertainment/Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru didn’t stop making money just because it wasn’t a holiday. The pic’s gross yesterday saw $18.9M, which is easily the best Tuesday ever for an Illumination Entertainment title at the domestic box office, besting the $17.5M made by the animation studio’s Sing on Dec. 27, 2016.
Rise of Gru‘s Tuesday is also ahead of Minions’ Tuesday from July 14, 2015 which made $16.8M.
Overall, Rise of Gru saw an 18% climb in its daily box office over its July 4th $16.08M ticket sales; the holiday usually a down-day at the box office given the holiday’s festive distractions. Through five-days Rise of Gru stands at $142M, which is 2.4% behind Minions over the same time frame.
Rise of Gru is expected to decline around 55% in its second weekend with around $48M, as Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder comes to conquer with a $140M-$160M opening.
Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick was second on Tuesday with $4.8M, -25% from July 4th with a running total of $575.4M in its sixth week. Warner Bros.’ Elvis was third with $3.9M, -8% from July 4th with a running cume of $74.9M in the midst of its second week.
Universal owned spots 4 and 5 respectively with Jurassic World Dominion and Blumhouse’s The Black Phone at $2.73M (-31%) and $2.26M (-30%). Dominion stands at $338.5M domestic, and Black Phone at $51.5M.