‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ is set to have its yellow henchmen illuminate the box office during the Fourth of July weekend.

The film, which is the fifth installment of Universal and Illumination’s ‘Despicable Me’ franchise, seems to be headed straight for the first spot and is expected to amass $65 million to $75 million from the 4,400 North American theaters it will be premiered at, according to Variety.

While it’s lucky that it is the only new film releasing in the United States during the weekend, it will still have to lock horns with blockbusters such as ‘Elvis’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ and ‘Lightyear’.

‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’, which has managed to garner decent reviews, will also be testing the success of family flicks on the silver screen. While families have served as the key demographic in box office revenues, crowds have lately been mixed, with younger people reviving theatres after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Previously, family films such as Disney’s ‘Lightyear’ failed to reach expectations, opening with a modest $51 million at the box office. On the other hand,  Paramount’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ surpassed estimates and debuted at $72 million during the President’s Day weekend.

While ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ could beat ‘Lightyear’ and ‘Sonic 2’, current projections suggest that it could bite the dust when it comes to its franchise’s first film ‘Despicable Me’, which amassed $56 million on its opening weekend and concluded its run with a whopping global collection of $543 million.

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‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’, directed by Kyle Balda, revolves around the story of young Gru, who ventures into the supervillain life and meets several people, some good and some despicable, along the way. The film’s voice cast includes Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson, Julie Andrews Michelle Yeoh and Jean-Claude Van Damme.