It’s not quite capturing the Moon, but Gru and crew this weekend hit a remarkable milestone as Despicable Me 4 buoyed the series of Illumination animated features past the $5 billion mark — no heist required! Now spanning six films Despicable Me is the first-ever animation franchise to reach these heights, the 15th overall to do so.
The global total box-office for DM4 reached $437.8 million as of Sunday, having pulled in an additional $88 million over the weekend from close to 80 international markets. The pic debuted in China across 35,000 screens this frame, earning more than $11.8M. Domestically, the sequel remained No. 1 on the charts with $44.7M from 4,449 theaters ($211.1M total) for its second weekend, down 40.5%.
Illumination’s lovable super villain series has outpaced other notable animation franchises including Shrek ($4.02B), which is getting its seventh film in 2026, Toy Story (five films, $3.27B), Ice Age (six movies, $3.2B) and Frozen (two films, $2.72B), as well as live-action moneymakers like Pirates of the Caribbean ($4.52B), Mission: Impossible ($4.11B), Twilight ($3.36B) and Hunger Games ($3.28B).
The box office’s other lingering animated hit, Pixar’s Inside Out 2, totted up another $50.2M for Disney from 47 overseas territories, bringing its worldwide total to $1.35 billion ($777.5M international). In North America, the film dropped to No. 3 in its fifth weekend of release ($20.75M) from 3,815 theaters, reaching a domestic total of $572.6M.
Inside Out 2 is officially Pixar’s highest-grossing film, surpassing Incredibles 2 on Friday. The family adventure had previously set a new animation record by making over $1B worldwide in just 19 days. It is currently the highest-grossing release of 2024, well ahead of Dune: Part Two ($282.14M), which is also being rapidly caught up by necomer Despicable Me 4.
$5 Billion+ Box Office Franchises
- Avatar – 2 films – $5.24B
- Transformers – 8 films – $5.29B
- Tolkien’s Middle-earth – 6 films – $5.85 billion
- Jurassic Park – 6 films – $6.03B
- X-Men – 13 Films – $6.07B
- Batman – 17 films – $6.8B
- DC Extended Universe – 15 films – $7.14B
- Fast & Furious – 11 films – $7.33B
- Avengers – 4 films – $7.77B
- James Bond – 27 films – $7.88B
- Spider-Man – 10 films (including 2 animated) – $8.96B
- Wizarding World – 11 films – $9.57B
- Star Wars – 12 films – $10.33B
- Marvel Cinematic Universe – 33 films – $29.75B
[Sources: Variety, CBR, BoxOfficeMojo]
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