Gru and the Minions set off fireworks at the box office as America celebrated its birthday. “Despicable Me 4,” the latest chapter in Universal and Illumination’s long-running franchise about a recovering supervillain who trades world domination for a family life, dominated the competition, earning $122.6 million over its first five days of release and $75 million during the three-day weekend. The movie opened on Wednesday, allowing it to fully capitalize on the Fourth of July holiday.

But “Despicable Me’s” appeal transcends borders. Internationally, the film earned $106.9 million from 73 markets, bringing its global earnings to $229.5 million. Even better, “Despicable Me 4” carries a relatively economical $100 million production budget, which should make it very profitable for the companies behind it, to say nothing of all the Minions merch they will sell. For context, films at Pixar and Disney, Illumination’s main rival, routinely cost $200 million to make.

One of those Disney and Pixar productions, “Inside Out 2,” continued to be a box office juggernaut, nabbing $30 million for a second place finish. The animated sequel about the emotional life of a teenage girl is the summer’s biggest hit, earning $533.8 million domestically and $1.2 billion globally (it passed “Minions” to become the fifth highest-grossing animated release in history). Catering to older audiences, Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” earned $21 million over the weekend for a third place finish, bringing the horror prequel’s domestic gross to a sterling $94.4 million.

Box office analysts believe that the movie business is regaining its stride after a horrendous start to the summer, one that saw well-reviewed films like “The Fall Guy” and “Furiosa” flop, leaving ticket sales off nearly 28%. Things are shifting now, with new installments in franchises like “Despicable Me,” “Inside Out,” “A Quiet Place” and “Bad Boys” closing the gap — revenues are now down 17%.

“What a difference a few heavy hitters can make,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “They really moved the needle and you can feel momentum building.”

That’s good news for other major studio releases such as “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Twisters,” which are scheduled to open in theaters this month.

Also opening over the Independence Day holiday, A24’s “MaXXXine,” a horror-thriller about a starlet-targeting killer that unfolds in 1980s Hollywood, debuted to $6.7 million for a fourth place finish, while Angel Studios’ “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” a faith-based drama about the members of a rural church and the foster children they help, earned $3.2 million over the weekend to bring its domestic total to $6.8 million. The Utah-based Angel Studios scored an outsized hit with last summer’s “Sound of Freedom,” which was geared at Christian audiences and opened over the Fourth of July in 2023 before earning more than $250 million. Given its modest start, don’t look for “Sound of Hope” to come anywhere near to achieving that kind of success. “MaXXXine” also suffered from a more muted start, opening slightly below projections, which had the film debuting to a little more than $8 million. The bulk of the film’s audience was comprised of men between the ages of 18 to 34 and “MaXXXine” was strongest in coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles, as well as in Austin, Texas, where Alamo Drafthouse, a movie theater chain that caters to cinephiles, over-indexed.

Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” the latest Will Smith and Martin Lawrence exercise in quips, pyrotechnics and vehicular destruction, rounded out the top five. It earned $6.5 million to bring its domestic haul to $177.4 million.

Meanwhile, Kevin Costner’s costly Western “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” seems ready to amble off into the sunset without much in its saddlebags. The film, an $100 million passion project that Costner mortgaged his land to make, earned $5.5 million over the weekend, bringing its domestic total to a disastrous $22.2 million. A second installment in what is intended to one day be a four-film series is scheduled to open in August. Costner is in production on a third chapter, though after audiences rejected the first one, questions remain about the commercial viability of his labor of love.

That’s not the case with “Despicable Me,” which has shown remarkable endurance, spawning multiple sequels and spinoffs since the first film opened in 2010. Every single one of those films has opened in first place and the series has becoming virtually synonymous with the Fourth of July, with nearly every installment debuting during the period.

“It’s a tremendous debut for a franchise that is now many installments in,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s head of distribution. “People around the world love Gru and the Minions and find them to be clever and adorable and hysterically funny.”

The success of “Despicable Me 4” continues a hot streak for Illumination, which has fielded hits like “The Secret Life of Pets,” “Sing” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and become one of the most reliable brands in movies. Orr praised the company and its founder Chris Meledandri for “having their thumb on the pulse of what audiences want.”

The latest “Despicable Me” adventure brings back Steve Carell as Gru and introduces new foils in the form of Will Ferrell (as a French bad guy named Maxime Le Mal) and Sofia Vergara (portraying Maxime’s partner in love and crime). But it’s the Minions, the adorable, anarchic, gibberish-spouting creatures who have captured kids’ hearts, becoming Illumination’s mascot in the process. When asked if there might be more “Despicable Me” movies and spinoffs in the future, Orr responded decisively. “Absolutely,” he said. “Particularly after a debut like this one.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is advocating a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that peace talks can only happen after Ukraine essentially surrenders. 

“If we sit in Brussels, we won’t be able to get any closer to peace. Action must be taken,” Orban said during a regular interview on Hungarian state radio following his visit. 

Orban turned heads this week when he made back-to-back trips to Kyiv and Moscow just days before a major NATO summit in Washington, D.C., next week. Hungary on Monday started its six-month tenure as the president of the EU, which is a rotating role among all members, and this is Orban’s first visit to Ukraine since the invasion started in Feb. 2022. 

European Union Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell rushed out a statement stressing that Orban had no mandate from the union and that he was “not representing the EU in any form.” 

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Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described the visit as “disturbing” news, writing on social media platform X that the visit shows “disregard for the duties of the EU presidency and undermines interests of the European Union.”

Orban insisted that he had had a “really useful, frank conversation” with Putin about Ukraine, and Putin said that the pair had discussed “possible ways of resolving” the conflict, repeating his demands that Ukraine withdraw all troops from annexed regions. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Russia had had no idea about the visit until Orban’s camp established contact one day before his arrival. 

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However, Orban admitted that after his two visits, he realized that the “positions are far apart” between Kyiv and Moscow, adding that “the number of steps needed to end the war and bring about peace is many,” Euractiv reported.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban (L) and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi (R) shake hands during a press conference on July 2, 2024, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Orban visited Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.  (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Ukraine’s foreign ministry stressed that Orban had made the trip “without any agreement or coordination with Ukraine.”

Leaders of NATO member states will meet in Washington, D.C., next week to mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary and tackle the issue of how to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, now well into its third year. 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 5, 2024. (Valery Sharifulin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

In a pre-summit background call, the White House laid out its goals for the week, including the announcement of new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities, all with the intent of ultimately sending a “strong signal” to Putin that NATO will outlast him if needed. 

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“We’re also going to send an important message to the rest of the world, including through our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as we stand together united and in support of democratic values,” a White House spokesperson told reporters. 

But Orban’s trip has angered his allies, drawing backlash from various leaders across the bloc who deemed his visit to Moscow in particular a danger to their position in negotiations with Putin. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) attend their joint press conference at the Senat Palace of Moscow’s Kremlin on July 5, 2024, in Moscow, Russia.  ( Contributor/Getty Images)

“With such a meeting the Hungarian presidency ends before it has really begun,” one EU diplomat told Reuters. “Hungary does not seem to have understood its role. . . . The skepticism of EU member states was unfortunately justified – it’s all about promoting Budapest’s interests.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X, “Appeasement will not stop Putin,” and “only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre labeled the visit as “counterproductive” for NATO and argued that the visit “will not advance the cause of peace.” 

Pope Francis said global democracy was “not in good health” as he encouraged Catholics to work for peace in Ukraine, Palestine and other conflict zones. 

His comments came during a visit to the northern Italian city of Trieste on Sunday, which marked the 50th Social Week of Italian Catholics. This year, he addressed the theme of democracy in crisis. 

As part of the trip, he went to the Generali Convention Centre, where the leader of the Catholic Church addressed the state of global democracy and its functionality. 

“Let’s be honest, in today’s world democracy is not in good health,” Francis said. 

“I am concerned about the small number of people who voted,” he continued, stressing the importance of creating conditions that allow everyone to express themselves and participate in the democratic process. 

“Indifference is a cancer to democracy, a non-participation.”  

The pope addressed 8,500 people gathered in the Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia, urging them to renew their commitment to pray and work for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar and wherever there is war.