Another franchise ruled the box office this weekend. “Despicable Me 3” brought in $75 million in domestic ticket sales. It is the fourth installment in a franchise that has brought in over $1 billion in domestic box office.

According to Box Office Mojo:

Once again sequel fatigue appears to be having an impact as estimates have Despicable Me 3 coming in about $10 million shy of its predecessor, but that didn’t stop it from securing the weekend top spot in the domestic, international and worldwide marketplaces, leading the charge over the first three days of this long, five-day Fourth of July holiday weekend. Behind it, Sony’s Baby Driver out-performed the studio’s expectations while WB’s R-rated comedy The House failed to generate much heat.

Another franchise installment, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” continued to disappoint with a total of only $17 million, which brings its total to $102 million domestically. The movie cost over $200 million to make. By contrast, the “Despicable Me 3” production cost was $90 million. It should recover that within the next week.

Among the movies in the franchise, “Despicable Me” had a total domestic gross of $215 million. It was released in July 2010. “Despicable Me 2,” released in July 2013, bought in $368 million in domestic box office. “Minions,” release in July 2015, brought in $336 million.

“Despicable Me 3” received mediocre reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, its rating among critics was 63% positive. Among audiences it was 68%. The ratings for the first installment were 81% positive among critics and 82% among audiences.

“Despicable Me 3” was distributed by Universal, a division of the NBC Universal arm of Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Box Office Mojo shows that in 2017, through June 25, Universal ranks second behind Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE: DIS) Buena Vista with a 17% share of domestic box office. This represents $949 million. The Buena Vista total is $1.352 billion for a 24% share.

On a related note, “Wonder Woman” added $16 million this weekend, for a total of $346 million in domestic box office, which puts in the in the number three spot for the year, behind “Beauty and the Beast” at $504 million and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” at $383 million.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.