Minions: The Rise of Gru breaks pandemic-era box office records

They're cute, they're yellow, and they managed to bring in over $300.9 million at the domestic box office. Minions: The Rise of Gru is not only the fifth highest-grossing film of 2022, but also the highest-grossing animated movie released during the COVID-19 pandemic. No other animated flick has crossed $300 million since Frozen 2 premiered back in 2019.

Rise of Gru serves as a sequel to the 2015 prequel film Minions, centering on an 11-year-old Gru (Steve Carell) who aspires to become a supervillain. The star-studded voice cast also includes Taraji P. Henson, Julie Andrews, Danny Trejo, Russell Brand, Alan Arkin, RZA, Lucy Lawless, and Dolph Lundgren.

Earlier this summer, the TikTok "#gentleminions" trend saw groups of young people headed to see the movie while dressed in formal wear, flooding the video app with hundreds of clips of teenage boys wearing tuxedos and holding buckets of popcorn. The trend made headlines after cinemas started to turn away anyone showing up to see the film in formal attire, as rowdy behavior – including shouting and throwing popcorn – began to break out mid-screening.

Whether we owe it to families or teenagers in suits, Rise of Gru is also the third Universal animated film to reach $300 million within 4 weeks domestically, joining Despicable Me 2 and The Secret Life of Pets. After a computer-animated simulator ride opened at several Universal Studios locations back in 2012, Universal Studios Orlando has spent the better part of 2022 expanding the ride into a "land" of sorts with multiple photo ops and other attractions. The Minions are here to stay.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is in theaters now. For more, check out our upcoming movies guide for everything else coming out this year and beyond.

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.