Animated comedy "Despicable Me 4” held on to the top spot in the North American box office this weekend with an impressive $44.7 million take, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations estimated Sunday. That brought total ticket sales for Universal Pictures’ latest Minions-universe release to $211.1 million in the United States and Canada since its release last weekend. Will Ferrell joins the voice cast this time as aptly named supervillain Maxime Le Mal. Overall, the Despicable Me/Minions franchise has crossed the $5 billion mark in global ticket sales, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Meanwhile, "Longlegs” from indie studio Neon rode excellent reviews and a potent viral marketing campaign to an unexpectedly strong second-place opening. The horror mystery took in $22.6 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, a "phenomenal” opening for the genre and Neon’s best-ever result, Variety said.
Critics compared the marketing campaign for the film to the highly successful launch of 1999 cult hit "The Blair Witch Project.” Neon crafted a 1990s-style website and offered fans a phone number to call to hear a creepy message from Nicolas Cage, who stars in the tale of an FBI agent tracking a serial killer.
Last weekend’s number two film, Disney and Pixar’s "Inside Out 2,” slipped a spot, with ticket sales of $20.7 million. The coming-of-age film has now taken in $572.6 million domestically and an additional $777 million globally. In fourth, also down one spot, was Paramount’s apocalyptic horror film "A Quiet Place: Day One,” at $11.8 million.
This third instalment in the series stars Lupita Nyong’o as a seriously ill woman in a New York invaded by extraterrestrial creatures with frighteningly keen hearing. And in fifth was new Sony rom-com "Fly Me to the Moon.” Its $10 million take was considered disappointing for a big-budget film starring the likes of Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson -- who play a NASA official and a marketing guru during the Apollo 11 mission -- but Apple TV+ expects a boost when it streams the film.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
"Bad Boys: Ride or Die” ($4.4 million)
"Horizon: An American Saga -- Chapter One” ($2.4 million)
"MaXXXine” ($2.1 million)
"Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” ($1.3 million)
"The Lion King,” a 1994 reissue ($1.1 million) — AFP