Weekend Box Office: Despicable Me 4 is huge; Horizon still struggling to find an audience

Despicable Me 4 is proving to be another giant hit for Illumination, while Kevin Costner’s Horizon is showing wobbly legs.

Last Updated on July 11, 2024

Weekend Box Office

As expected, Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 4 had no problem claiming the top spot over this holiday weekend. Deadline reported that the film posted a strong – but not franchise record-setting $75 million (which isn’t far from what we predicted earlier this week). With the holiday gross, the film’s five-day total is a muscular $122.6 million. That’s the second biggest opening for one of the Despicable Me movies, but it pales compared to the Minions spin-off films, which both opened well north of $100 million on their opening weekends.

Notably, despite the common consensus that two family-oriented films would bite into each other’s box office this weekend, Pixar’s box office juggernaut, Inside Out 2, continued to hold steady with $33 million, only a 42% decline from last weekend. So far, it’s made an incredible $536 million domestically. A Quiet Place: Day One performed within franchise expectations, slipping 60% to $21 million, with the domestic total currently at about $94 million. That’s a great result for a third film in a franchise, especially considering that franchise star Emily Blunt is sitting this one out, with it a prequel. Expect more movies in this franchise to come.

Bad Boys 5

Speaking of franchises, Bad Boys: Ride or Die continued to pack some serious heat at the summer box office, with it making $6.55 million for a total north of $177 million. At this point, it should end its run just short of the double-century mark. Still, clearly, Will Smith’s star power hasn’t diminished post-Oscar slap, with it looking to end as the second biggest Bad Boys movie ever, with only Bad Boys For Life outgrossing it with a $206 million domestic total.

Meanwhile, Ti West’s MaXXXine turned out to be front-loaded, with horror fans turning out in droves to see it on Friday night, but then laying off the rest of the weekend. It wound up grossing $6.7 million, which is still a franchise high for the A24-produced trilogy, which began with X and continued with Pearl

Horizon

The news wasn’t quite as good for Kevin Costner’s epic western, Horizon: Chapter One. While it had a better hold than most other movies this weekend, with it only slipping 50% to $5.48 million, considering last weekend’s dismal opening, a final tally in the neighbourhood of $35 million seems to be in the cards for this big-budget passion project. Maybe Chapter 2 will do better in August? We’ll see, but either way, this is a disappointing result for a movie Costner largely financed himself. 

In terms of counter-programming, Angel Studios has a solid word-of-mouth hit with The Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, which made $3.2 million this weekend, for a $6.79 million total. If word of mouth is good, this one might have some great legs over the rest of the summer. The Indian-made epic Kalki 2898 A.D continued to pull in impressive numbers, grossing $1.83 million for a $16 million-plus total. It’s one of the highest-grossing Indian produced movies domestically of all time. 

Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders, which hits VOD on Tuesday, sunk further down the list, tumbling another 61% to $1.3 million and a grand total under $20 million. Finally, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness collapsed at the domestic box office this weekend. Despite adding over 400 screens, it still fell over 45%, with its grand total domestically at just over $3.8 million. This one seems too niche to catch on with a mainstream audience. 

Next weekend, the Channing Tatum/ Scarlett Johansson comedy Fly Me to the Moon and the amazing horror flick Longlegs will be released. 

What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments! 

# MOVIE TITLE WKND $ TOTAL $
1 Despicable Me 4 $75 M $122.6 M
2 Inside Out 2 $33.1 M $536.9 M
3 A Quiet Place: Day One $21 M $94.3 M
4 Bad Boys: Ride or Die $6.55 M $177.3 M
5 MaXXXine $6.7 M $6.7 M
6 Horizon $5.48 M $22.1 M
7 Sound of Home: The Story of Possum Trot $3.2 M $6.79 M
8 Kalki 2898 AD $1.83 M $16.5 M
9 The Bikeriders $1.3 M $19.3 M
10 Kinds of Kindness $863 k $3.8 M

About the Author

Chris Bumbray began his career with JoBlo as the resident film critic (and James Bond expert) way back in 2007, and he has stuck around ever since, being named editor-in-chief in 2021. A voting member of the CCA and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, you can also catch Chris discussing pop culture regularly on CTV News Channel.