Minions: The Rise Of Gru Just Smashed A Pandemic-Era Box Office Record

Originally making their premiere in "Despicable Me," the yellow gibberish speaking creatures known as Minions lend their service to the evilest villains in the world. It is established within the "Despicable Me" franchise that the Minions have existed on Earth for countless millennia, and in the movie "Minions," they are shown to have been involved with Tyrannosaurus Rex, an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, Dracula, and even Napoleon Bonaparte. Unfortunately, these early services from the Minions typically result in calamity for their masters ... until they meet an aspiring young villain named Gru (Steve Carell).

"Minions: The Rise of Gru" is the latest installment in the franchise, and it dives deep into the "Despicable Me" timeline to explain how Gru became the villain from the original movie. This film sees Gru attempt to join a villainous group known as the Vicious 6, but things don't exactly work out in his favor, and it's once again up to the Minions to help their master, complete with their distinctive speech patterns and lucky bumbling.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the release of "Minions: The Rise of Gru" was delayed by the pandemic, as the film was supposed to release in June or July of 2020. Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri said at the time of the delay, "This means we will be unable to finish 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' in time for our planned global releases in late June and early July. While we all grapple with the enormity of this crisis, we must put the safety and protection of our employees above all. We look forward to finding a new release date for the return of Gru and the Minions." 

However, now that the box office results are finally here, it seems the delay hasn't slowed down the Minions one bit.

As reported by Deadline, "Minions: The Rise of Gru" has become the first animated film to achieve $300 million results at the domestic box office since Covid-19 stifled the movie industry, by shuttering theaters and delaying production. 

The movie industry as a whole has suffered immensely since the start of the pandemic, and Forbes notes that 2020 saw theatrical revenue drop from around $42 billion in 2019 to $12 billion. As such, movie studios are once again trying to find their footing, and the success of "Minions: The Rise of Gru" is a welcome sign of recovery.

Looking at the financial information of the "Despicable Me" franchise on The Numbers, one can see that the franchise as a whole has already collected over $4.3 billion, and "Rise of Gru" has already made more money than the original "Despicable Me," which made $251 million over its entire domestic run. Released on July 1, 2022, "Rise of Gru" has been met with a favorable critical response, and the movie currently has a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Either way, whether the "Despicable Me" movies are your bag or not, it is nice to see signs that life is slowly returning back to normal, even if that "normalcy" is heralded by strange little yellow creatures.