Minions: The Rise of Gru, the eagerly awaited prequel to Despicable Me, broke a box office record during its previews on Thursday.
It’s simple to overlook that this is the first genuine summer blockbuster season since 2019 with Top Gun: Maverick dominating the box office and Jurassic World: Dominion crushing rivals.
A wide range of movies had to change their intended release dates because theaters were closed over the summer of 2020 and were only beginning to reopen by the summer of 2021. Blockbusters released in 2020 were the most severely impacted; notable victims were No Time to Die and Fast & Furious 9.
The sequel to Minions: The Rise of Gru was also impacted since, according to Illumination, development on it could not be completed in time for its planned July 3, 2020 release. Universal delayed it by a year, to July 2021, and then again, to July 1, 2022.
But you might not be aware of the fact that the Minions sequel, which is presently playing in theaters, has a distinguished history of being delayed.
The delayed crop’s final film, Minions: The Rise of Gru, has a greater significance than you would have realized. It still holds true if you extend it to the remaining 2020 releases, such as Eternals, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and The Tomorrow War, as they have all already been made available in some capacity. Even films like Jurassic World: Dominion and The Matrix Resurrections, whose production was delayed due to the pandemic, beat the animated sequel to the big screen. Even though it doesn’t apply to every movie whose production was impacted, it’s still an impressive accomplishment.
According to Forbes, Minions: The Rise of Gru has been delayed for so long that its teaser was shown before Sonic the Hedgehog in February 2020 and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in April 2022.
The Despicable Me franchise’s highest-grossing film, Minions, was a major smash for Universal in 2015, earning $1.16 billion at the global box office. Even with these delays, there is a good probability that the sequel will accomplish the same feat.
Minions: The Rise of Gru breaks box office record
The movie, whose release date was originally set for 2020 but was delayed because of COVID, took first place for being the most successful animated film to be shown in previews since the epidemic started.
The funny animation outperformed other major animations after bringing in $10.5 million at the box office, surpassing both its predecessor and Minions.
Only Toy Story 4 ($12 million) and Incredibles 2 ($18.2 million) are at the top, followed by Frozen II ($8.2 million), Finding Dory ($9 million), and most recently, Lightyear ($5.2 million).
The film has accomplished other intriguing milestones since its debut, in addition to this one. Additionally, after being frequently postponed due to the epidemic in 2020 and 2021, it was the last notable movie to be seen in theaters.
Despite worries, postponed films have often performed well; recent releases like Top Gun: Maverick have exceeded box office projections.
In this sequel, Steve Carell plays the younger version of Gru. He described his interaction with Digital Spy as follows: “As soon as we begin the chat, you start to feel it. Because Gru is so young, so eager, and so thrilled, his voice and demeanor are also slightly different, making this a little unusual.
“In that regard, older Gru is a little more jaded, a little more crusty, and a little more reserved. Finding the several iterations of the same character was enjoyable. It’s squeezed as well as pitched, but slightly higher in pitch.”
Minions: The Rise of Gru: Steve Carell reads CBeebies Bedtime Story
The CBeebies Bedtime Story that Steve Carell reads will air today, July 1, to coincide with the release of the movie Minions: The Rise of Gru.
Carell read the Steve Smallman and Miguel Ordóez-illustrated book The Eyebrows of Doom. The plot centers on Dave the bear and his pals as they attempt to stop the eyebrows of doom from hopping from one unwary animal to another.
He had this to say about the project: “I liked reading to my kids when they were younger. It was a tremendous pleasure to read a Bedtime Story for CBeebies — about a pair of wicked eyebrows wreaking havoc, which is something we can all relate to.”
The actor joins a long list of celebrities, including Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hardy, David Swimmer, Dolly Parton, Dave Grohl, Orlando Bloom, and Rose Ayling-Ellis, who have had the honor of reading a CBeebies Bedtime Story.
Carell is currently starring in the fifth installment of the Despicable Me film series as Gru.
Minions: The Rise of Gru, which this time focuses on the character’s origins, will introduce us to 12-year-old Gru before he turned into the supervillain of the earlier Despicable Me movies.
