Revisiting The $3B+ Success Of One Of The Highest-Grossing Animated Franchises

The audience always welcomes animated films with warm hugs. Despicable Me is among the most popular franchises and the highest-grossing animation, with over $5 billion in collections at the worldwide box office. The franchise has six movies in total, including two prequels. However, we will discuss the main franchise in this tetralogy box office series. The most recent release was 2024’s Despicable Me 4. Keep scrolling for the deets.

The franchise kicked off in 2010 with the first film. It achieved several feats on its release, including becoming one of the year’s highest-grossing films. It was the first film produced by Illumination Entertainment and became one of the most successful debuts for a new animation studio. The first film set a new benchmark for non-Disney and non-Pixar animation success domestically. Its massive success and popularity paved the way for such a popular franchise, followed by three sequels and two prequels.

In 2024, Despicable Me 4 was released, and it is one of the top 10 highest-grossing films of the past year. It was initially projected to hit $1 billion but ultimately failed to hit that mark in its lifetime. It collected $75.00 million on its opening weekend. It collected an estimated $122.6 million over the 4th of July holiday weekend last year, and it was in its five-day opening weekend. However, it is not the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

According to The Numbers’ report, the collective estimated budget of all four Despicable Me films was $320 million, and they have collected $3.518 billion worldwide. Despicable Me 4 was close to surpassing the second installment’s global haul. Here is the box office ranking of the Despicable Me films.

4. Despicable Me (2010) – $544.17 million
3. Despicable Me 4 (2024) – $969.12 million
2. Despicable Me 2 (2013) – $970.76 million
1. Despicable Me 3 (2017) – $1.03 billion

Despicable Me 4 is the fourth highest-grossing film of 2024. The extended franchise has two more movies: Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru. The 2015 movie Minions collected $1.159 billion globally, and Minions: The Rise of Gru raked in $940.48 million. A sequel to the Minions franchise is scheduled to be released in 2026.

Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.

Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box-office stories & updates!

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