‘Despicable Me 4’ Earns No.1 Spot While ‘Longlegs’ Stuns With Record $22.6 Million Weekend Total

Courtesy of Neon.

Animation continues to dominate the summer box office thanks to the likes of ‘Despicable Me 4’ and ‘Inside Out 2,’ but Neon‘s ‘Longlegs’ is the hot topic of discussion. Osgood Perkins’ horror phenomenon earned the biggest opening for an independent horror feature in a decade with $22.6 million in ticket sales.

‘Despicable Me 4,’ as predicted, stayed atop the domestic box office in its second weekend with $44.7 million from 4,449 theaters — leaping to $211.1 million domestically. Overseas, 78 markets saw $88 million, soaring the film past $437.8 million globally.

Another huge milestone: the Despicable Me/Minions franchise has crossed the $5 billion mark in global ticket sales — something no animated franchise has achieved — leading to the recent announcement from Illumination that Minions 3 is in the works.

The better-than-expected performance of writer/director Osgood Perkins’ ‘Longlegs,' a horror-crime, serial killer procedural starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, played in 2,510 cinemas — the biggest opening ever for Tom Quinn‘s Oscar-winning production and distribution studio Neon. The highly praised movie earned $10 million on Friday alone, with more than 70% of ticket sales allocated between ages 18 and 34.

Read our review for ‘Longlegs.’

In North America, ‘Inside Out 2’ came in third in its fifth weekend with $20.8 million for a juggernaut domestic tally of $572.6 million. Overseas, it earned another $50.2 million, leading to a global total of $777.5 million (and still to open in several markets such as Japan — a major contributor for animated box office return).

Paramount’s ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ continues to intrigue moviegoers and placed fourth despite new releases hitting theaters, earning $11.8 million this weekend from 3,378 theaters, rising domestically to an impressive $116.2 million.