Minions: The Rise of Gru has raked in over $220 million in its opening weekend. Though, many predicted that the latest Illumination project might face a hard time at the box office. Well, that’s definitely not the case here. The film earned more than $127 million in the US and Canada, and the remaining figures came from other territories. No denying that the post-pandemic period for the theatres has not been very kind to small budget or original projects. Only prominent movie franchises are running wild in the movie theatres these days. The recent success of Minion 2 proves the same.
The latest Minions sequel is far from being called a perfect movie. But it is a significant improvement over its 2015 predecessor. Although, a good portion of critics has criticised its storyline.
The Rise of Gru’s success shows how badly theatres depend upon popular movie franchises for their survival. Many movies like Dog, Cyrano, The Northman, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Downtown Abbey: A New Era, and many more ended up underperforming at the global box office despite being good and quality watches. What is the reason behind their disappointing theatrical runs? Well, we can point out various reasons for this scenario.
First and foremost is the global rise of OTT. The streaming services have made ‘movie-watching’ easy and more comfortable than the theatrical experience. Viewers do not want to visit theatres to watch small movies as they can watch them some days later on OTT. But the case for big-budget releases or entries from well-known franchises is different. People can watch these big films digitally after at least 45 days of their theatrical releases.
Another thing that does not favour small films is the present mentality of studio executives. The success of small movies at the box office is not guaranteed at all these days. Plus, it is safe for the makers to dispatch their films via streaming platforms.
Minions: The Rise of Gru shows the protagonist’s rise in the criminal world with the help of his loyal yellow-coloured banana lovers. There is nothing breathtaking about the latest Illumination project. But it seems like the studio has figured out a way to make its future releases profitable from the popularity of its old releases. Illumination’s last release, Sing 2, performed amazingly well amidst COVID restrictions and collected more than $400 million globally. It served as nothing except an endearing diversion. But thanks to the prominence of its 2016 predecessor. The film performed just fine at the box office.
Not only Minions 2 but numerous big releases like Top Gun: Maverick, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman, Jurassic World Dominion, and many more literally killed their small-budget competitors in terms of collections. All these films belong to renowned franchises. And their grand theatrical success proves that theatres have no alternative except to depend upon prominent franchises for their survival.