Minions 2 Box Office Preview Tops Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & Lightyear

Minions: The Rise of Gru's box office preview tops Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Lightyear with an impressive $10.8 million opening night haul.

Minions 2 Box Office Preview Tops Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & Lightyear

Hitting theaters seven years after its predecessor, Minions: The Rise of Gru‘s box office preview points towards a promising theatrical run. The new film picks up eight years where the Despicable Me prequel movie left off, with the titular yellow creatures now working for an 11-year-old Gru. With Gru looking to make a name for himself in the criminal underworld, he will face off against the powerful organization known as the Vicious 6 after stealing a stone from them capable of turning anyone into one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Steve Carrell and Pierre Coffin return to lead the cast of Minions: The Rise of Gru as the titular characters alongside the franchise introductions of Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Julie Andrews and Alan Arkin. Having languished in development for five years amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Minions: The Rise of Gru is finally making its way to theaters, with critics being generally more favorable towards it than its predecessor, but still largely mixed on its underwhelming story. With reviews leaning positive, it appears Minions: The Rise of Gru is looking forward to a strong theatrical run.

With the film finally hitting theaters, Deadline reports that Minions: The Rise of Gru is on track for a record-setting run with its box office preview topping both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Lightyear. The animated Illumination sequel grossed $10.8 million in its opening night, beating the video game movie sequel’s $6.25 million haul and Pixar spinoff’s $5.2 million haul. The film’s box office preview also tops that of its predecessor, with the original Minions having grossed $6.2 million in its opening night.

Despite its studio and Toy Story franchise ties, Lightyear has proven to be a surprising underperformer at the box office, falling short of opening weekend projections putting it ahead of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and currently projected to be Pixar’s third flop, currently sitting at $156 million grossed against its $200 million production budget. With audiences having enjoyed the first adaptation of SEGA’s game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ran off to a major box office haul, initially landing the best pandemic-era opening for a kids’ movie and ultimately bringing in over $401 million against its reported $110 million production budget. With Minions: The Rise of Gru surpassing both films in its box office preview, the animated sequel is off to a strong start.

Minions: The Rise of Gru‘s box office opening also points towards the film potentially surpassing the record-setting haul of its predecessor. With over $1.159 billion grossed upon its 2015 release, the original Minions became the second-highest-grossing animated film off all time during its theatrical run, and, though studios have struggled to clear that $1 billion mark since the pandemic, seeing the likes of Top Gun: Maverick cross that mark and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems possible the film could set the bar high for animated films moving forward. Audiences can judge the sequel for themselves with Minions: The Rise of Gru is now in theaters.