With a $125 million debut, Minions: Rise of Gru breaks the Fourth of July box office record

Rise of the Minions Gru beat the previous record-holder Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon from 2011 to set the Fourth of July weekend record 

At the box office, Minions: The Rise of Gru is a huge success. The Illumination and Universal hit weekend box office earnings of $125.1M and set a Fourth of July 4-day opening record after its July 1 premiere.

According to the publication, the premiere had the second-best opening of any Despicable Me/Minions film, trailing only 2015’s Minions.

According to the TODAY show, Rise of Gru surpassed Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon’s $115.88 million domestic gross over the Independence Day weekend in 2011.

New Minions: The Rise of Gru Trailer Shows Villain’s Hilarious Origin Story:

The movie’s March-released trailer depicts Gru’s early attempts to seize control while Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” is playing in the background. The juvenile offender is later abducted and promises that “My Minions will save me!”

There are many other villains in the world, but I’m going to be a supervillain, says 12-year-old Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) in the new Minions prequel. Gru is growing up in the 1970s.

Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, the Minion followers of Gru, are back, and Otto, who has braces and “a tremendous drive to please,” according to a press release, is a new Minion. The Minions’ voices are provided by Pierre Coffin.

Additionally, the movie’s 1970s-inspired soundtrack comes from Grammy-winning music producer Jack Antonoff.

There have so far been three Despicable Me movies (in 2010, 2013, and 2017) plus the first Minions movie (in 2015).