Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament took a hiatus during the pandemic as movie theaters closed for the majority of 2020-2021 and theatrical day-and-date titles on both the big screen and studios’ respective streaming platforms became more prevalent. Coming back from that brink, the studios have largely returned to their theatrical release models and the downstream monies they can bring. Not to mention their power in launching IPs around the world with big global marketing campaigns. When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn’t about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses, and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysterious end of the equation, Deadline is repeating our Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament for 2022, using data culled by seasoned and trusted sources.
THE FILM
Minions: The Rise of Gru
Illumination/Universal
Similar to how moviegoers love Jurassic World dinosaurs, they are absolute devotees to Minions and can’t resist them no matter how many movies — and Minions: The Rise of Gru repped the fifth to star them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and creating anticipation for this film was the fact that was stalled by Covid; the release date pushed from July 2020 to July 2022. Universal was one of the first studios to pursue a controversial theatrical day-and-date release quite early during the pandemic with DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls World Tour, utilizing a Premium VOD and theatrical debut (in whatever drive-ins were available back in March 2020). However, Illumination boss Chris Meledandri always had a full-bodied theatrical release in the cards for Minions: The Rise of Gru, holding off releasing the prequel during a time when a majority of movie theaters were closed. Some in the industry worried whether family moviegoers would ever come back to cinemas during the pandemic; tried-and-true Disney movies had seen lackluster ticket sales (Encanto found an audience on Disney+ and failed to cross $100M at the domestic box office, while Pixar’s Toy Story spinoff Ligthtyear bombed). But Minions: The Rise of Gru proved that parents and kids still look for an escape at the movies. The hook here was the origin story of how future evil secret agent Gru first befriend the high-pitched, mischievous yellow guys. Audiences laughed hard, giving Rise of Gru the franchise’s fourth A CinemaScore.
THE BOX SCORE
THE BOTTOM LINE
While live-action feature productions shut down during the pandemic, animated films continued to shoot as most departments were able to work remotely. The delay of Covid, plus the overhead of Illumination’s Santa Monica- and France-based staffs, drove costs to $100 million. Not included here by our finance sources are the merchandise revenues yielded by the prequel, with the Minions brand name minting $6 billion-plus in retail sales. Universal had $285M worth of global advertising via various promotional partners who also waited through Covid for the movie to hit theaters. Minions: The Rise of Gru opened to an Independence Day four-day weekend record of $123M. Participations of $40M include Steve Carell’s downstream monies. The Global TV stream of $170M not only counts what Peacock paid Universal for the first Pay One window of the film, but also what Netflix paid to Uni for 10 months of an 18-month window for the film. The prequel was the fourth Minions Universe movie to gross north of $900M worldwide and the third to churn a net profit north of $300M after Minions and Despicable Me 2. Through five movies, the Minions/Gru universe now stands at $4.6 billion at the global box office. At $382M after all ancillaries, Minions: The Rise of Gru was more in the black than 2017’s Despicable Me 3 ($366M), proving that holding this franchise title’s release through the pandemic paid off.