'Despicable Me 3' Rakes in Almost $100 Million Over Long Weekend

Gru and his pesky Minions ran amok at the July Fourth box-office picnic.

Early estimates for Tuesday show Universal and Illumination's Despicable Me 3 handily winning Independence Day with an estimated $13 million, putting the movie's five-day North American total at $99.4 million. Generally speaking, it was a relatively strong day for moviegoing considering July Fourth is always a challenge. Overall revenue was down roughly 7 percent from Monday, a smaller decline than usual for the holiday.

For the three-day weekend, Despicable Me 3 grossed $72.4 million from 4,529 theaters. While that was notably behind the launch of Despicable Me 2 or spinoff Minions, it is still the best showing of the year to date for an animated film. The family pic earned another $14 million on Monday for a cume of $86.4 million.

In 2013, Despicable Me 2 likewise launched over the Fourth of July frame, grossing $83.5 million for the weekend proper and $143.1 million in its Wednesday-Sunday debut. (That year, the holiday fell on a Thursday, so it was considered an official five-day opening, unlike this year.) And in summer 2015, spinoff Minions opened to a huge $115.7 million over the July 10-12 weekend.

Read the rest of this article at The Hollywood Reporter.

Baby Driver came in second for the period with $39 million.