‘Despicable Me’ Is the First Animated Franchise in History to Cross $5 Billion

©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Despicable Me 4” loomed large at the international box office, earning a mighty $88 million to top charts. The animated sequel’s global haul now stands at $437.8 million. Over the weekend, the “Despicable Me” series of movies became the first animated franchise in history to cross the $5 billion mark.

“Despicable Me 4” brings back Steve Carell as Gru, a reformed supervillain, and pits him against Will Ferrell as Maxime Le Mal, a former schoolmate turned bad guy and rival. The movie is playing in nearly 80 foreign markets, including China, where it debuted across 35,000 screens and 11,000 locations to earn $11.8 million. Universal and Illumination produced the movie.

Another animated smash, “Inside Out 2,” continued to rack up strong ticket sales around the world. The Disney and Pixar release earned $50.2 million from 47 material territories. That pushes its international haul to $777.5 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time, bypassing “Despicable Me 3.” Globally, “Inside Out” has earned a massive $1.36 billion. It is the only 2024 release to join the $1 billion club.

Warner Bros. also got a head start on the domestic launch of “Twisters” next week, opening the film in 38 markets, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil. The sequel to 1996’s “Twister” earned $11.5 million. Next week, the movie will open in much of Europe, including such major markets as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. “Twisters” stars Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos; it was directed by “Minari’s” Lee Isaac Chung. Universal has North American rights to the movie.

And Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” grossed $10.4 million from 67 markets in its third weekend of release. That brings the horror prequel’s international haul to $104.5 million, pushing its global total to $220.7 million.