Box Office: ‘Lightyear’ Opening Weekend Struggling to Outpace ‘Jurassic World Dominion’

Shawn Mendes is using his is world tour to make a difference.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterTiny yellow creatures are taking over the international box office.“Minions: The Rise of Gru” ignited to $93.7 million from 61 overseas markets and notched one of the biggest pandemic-era opening weekends for an animated film in many of those territories.Those returns take the fifth installment in Universal and Illumination’s popular “Despicable Me” franchise past $200 million at the global box office. In North America, “The Rise of Gru” debuted to $108 million over the weekend and looks to reach $127.9 million through Independence Day on Monday.Outside of the U.S. and Canada, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” enjoyed the strongest showing in the United Kingdom and Ireland with $12.9 million, followed by Mexico with $12.4 million and Germany with $4.8 million.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is huge!

Guy Lodge Film CriticShould the apocalypse strike and any of us happen to survive it, you can’t accuse the movies of leaving us unprepared. Dystopian futures are a dime a dozen in science-fiction cinema these days, with a generally shared aesthetic that leads us to expect, for better or (probably) worse, a lot of damp, ashy slurry and unflattering sackcloth.

J. Kim Murphy It’s official —the Minions are back.Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is setting off fireworks at the Fourth of July box office, projecting a $129.2 million opening over the four-day holiday weekend.

Honoring her memory. On what would have been the late Princess Diana‘s 61st birthday, Prince William and Prince Harry individually paid tribute to their mother and celebrated the impact she had on the world.

Jordan Moreau “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” the latest animated entry in the family-friend “Despicable Me” franchise, opened to $10.75 million in Thursday previews from 3,350 theaters in North America. It will expand to 4,391 theaters on Friday.Heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is expected to gross between $65 million and $75 million in its extra-long opening. Those current projections forecast that the fifth entry in the animated franchise is on track for the lowest opening since the original “Despicable Me” picked up $56 million back in 2010.

SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains details from the Season 8 finale of The Flash.

After a two year delay due to the pandemic, Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, the fifth movie in the Despicable Me/Minions universe, arrives looking to lead the Independence Day domestic box office with $70M-$80M over 4-days, and another $70M abroad for a potential $150M global launch. There are no other major studio wide entries over July 4th weekend.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterTiny yellow henchmen will attempt to spark fireworks at the box office over the July 4 weekend.“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” the fifth installment in Universal and Illumination’s popular “Despicable Me” franchise, is headed for a first-place finish, with the family film expected to bring in $65 million to $75 million from 4,400 North American theaters during the extended holiday period. Though it’s the only new nationwide release, “Minions” will have to fend off holdover titles including Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” “Jurassic World: Dominion,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and Pixar’s “Lightyear.”The well-reviewed “Minions: The Rise of Gru” looks to test the viability of kid-friendly animated flicks on the big screen.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Elvis,” directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £4.02 million ($4.9 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.After two weeks at the top, Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” was in second place in its third weekend with £3.4 million for a total of £27.1 million.

Fans who go see the new movie Elvis in theaters will probably be wondering if actor Austin Butler is doing his own singing in the film.

little too much sway over the King of Rock ‘n Roll. Sure, he helped elevate Presley in the public consciousness but also trapped him in a gilded cage.True to form Luhrmann gives the story an extreme stylistic overlay; songs bleed and warm into each other, remixed frenetically with modern artists and current sensibilities.

The big screen debut of Marcel The Shell With Shoes On opened at $170K on six screens in New York and LA, the highest PSA of the weekend at $28,267 for the iconic lonely snail voiced by Jenny Slate.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFollowing BTS’ announcement that they will be focusing on solo projects in the coming months, the group’s J-Hope announced on the Weverse platform early Saturday that he will release a solo album called “Jack in the Box” on July 15. The first single single will drop next week, on July 1.According to the official announcement, “Jack in the Box” lends voice to J-Hope’s aspirations to break the mold and grow further.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorAccording to Chris Pratt, his voice performance as Mario in the upcoming feature adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. video game will be “unlike anything you’ve heard.”Variety got the chance to catch up with Pratt at the Wednesday night premiere of his new Amazon Prime Video series “The Terminal List” (more on that later!) to talk about finding his voice for the film, which co-stars Charlie Day as Luigi.There’s been much internet discussion over Pratt’s casting in the animated film as the Italian plumber despite his non-Italian background, with critics expressing concern that his accent could potentially be offensive.

SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains spoilers for the series finale of “Obi-Wan Kenobi”. 

ABC channel KOCO 5 on Tuesday that they had taken down the sign and won’t be fast-forwarding. 89er Theater in Kingfisher, Oklahoma is paying someone to fast forward through the same sex kiss in Lightyear pic.twitter.com/wXYIf8o9VtOne woman who took her two sons to the movie told KOCO she didn’t mind the scene.

Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 has crossed the $400M threshold at the global box office, including $190.6M from domestic and $209.5M internationally through Tuesday. It is currently the No. 8 film worldwide in 2022 and is likely to jump up a few notches as it still has Japan and Hong Kong to release. At Paramount’s CineEurope presentation today, a threequel was touted.