June finally cranked up the heat on a lukewarm box office with the arrival of Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which marked 2024’s largest opening to date and the first $100M opener since last year’s Barbie. July, meanwhile, boasts three major box office hopefuls—Despicable Me 4, Twisters, and Deadpool & Wolverine—with other wide releases rounding out the month. These include: Lionsgate’s Indian actioner Kill, Angel Studios’ Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, A24’s trilogy-making slasher horror MaXXXine, science-fiction horror Lumina from Goldove Pictures, Sony Pictures’ star-studded space race romcom drama Fly Me to the Moon. Among July’s limited releases are Neon’s buzzy horror title Longlegs and Focus Features’ coming-of-age comedy/drama Dìdi.
Here are the biggest movies coming to theaters in July:
Despicable Me 4 | Universal Pictures
July 3 (PLF)
Boasting a summer holiday release and virtually no competition from other family titles, Despicable Me 4 is likely to cross the $250M benchmark during its domestic run. With a three-day opening weekend already tracking higher than initial predictions, the latest entry in the franchise is expected to perform along the lines of the last Despicable Me film, 2017’s Despicable Me 3—which finished its domestic run at $264.6M. The biggest global animated franchise in history, the Despicable Me and Minions films have earned $1.5 billion domestically and a staggering $4.6 billion worldwide.
Following 2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru ($370.2M domestic/$942.6M global), Despicable Me 4 reunites audiences with Gru (Steve Carrell) and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) as they welcome a new member to the family. The group soon finds themselves forced to go on the run thanks to the new nemesis Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara). Despicable Me 4 is directed by Minions co-creator Chris Renaud (Despicable Me 2 $368M domestic/$970.7M global, The Secret Life of Pets $368.6M domestic/$894.5M global), and co-directed by Patrick Delage, who served as the animation director on Sing 2 and The Secret Life of Pets 2 and as lead animator on the original Despicable Me.
Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot | Angel Studios
July 4
Pitched as a further look at the topics Angel Studios brought to cinemas last Fourth of July with Sound of Freedom, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot aims to replicate the earlier film’s grassroots success, which made Sound of Freedom the biggest box office surprise of 2023. Released on Tuesday, July 4th, Sound of Freedom defeated Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on its opening day by a solid +21%. From a strong opening of $19.6M, the faith-focused title soared in its sophomore frame, rising +37% to $27M and the best non-holiday sophomore weekend ever for a wide release.
Now Angel Studios hopes to bring back audiences for another child-centric story, following twenty-two families from a rural black church in the small East Texas town of Possum Trot. Inspired by a true story, Possum Trot focuses on Donna and Reverend Martin as they inspire local families to adopt seventy-seven of the most difficult-to-place kids in the foster system.
MaXXXine | A24
July 5
Director Ti West and actor Mia Goth’s slasher-horror franchise (X $11.7M domestic/$14.7M global and Pearl $9.4M domestic/$9.8M global) completes its trilogy with the upcoming MaXXXine, in which Goth’s Maxine sets out to make it as an actress in 1980s Los Angeles. Horror has struggled to find a foothold at the box office in 2024, with the majority of the genre’s titles ending their domestic runs in the $20-$30M range. For the majority of the year, the highest-grossing horror title of 2024 was January’s Night Swim at $32.4M; that was only surpassed in June by The Strangers: Chapter 1 in its fifth frame.
Fly Me to the Moon | Sony Pictures
July 12
The sole wide release of the post-Fourth of July frame, Fly Me to the Moon is expected to take the second spot behind Despicable Me 4. The film marks the second theatrical release in Apple and Sony’s distribution partnership, following last year’s release of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. With a minimal marketing campaign, Fly Me to the Moon will largely rely on the star power of Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum.
Fly Me to the Moon follows marketing guru Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), who is tasked with fixing NASA’s public image during the 1960s space race. Missions collide when Jones complicates the task ahead for launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), working on the upcoming Apollo 11 moon landing. With the mission deemed too important to fail, the White House directs Jones to stage and film an elaborate fake moon landing as a backup. The film marks director Greg Berlanti’s first theatrical release since 2018’s Love, Simon ($40.8M domestic/$66.7M global).
Twisters | Universal Pictures
July 19 (PLF)
Hitting theaters 28 years after its predecessor, Universal’s reboot/sequel Twisters is set to out-gross other recent disaster films like 2017’s Geostorm ($13.7M domestic opening, $33.7M domestic total), 2019’s The Hurricane Heist ($3.0M domestic opening, $6.1M domestic total), and 2022’s Moonfall ($9.8 domestic opening, $19M domestic total). With a marketing campaign emphasizing wind, weather, and spectacle, premium formats like Imax, ScreenX, and motion seating seem like a natural fit.
Twister was a considerable hit for Warner Bros. when it came out in 1996, ranking as the second-highest-grossing film of that year, trailing Independence Day and outpacing third-place finisher Mission: Impossible by over $50M. Boasting ’90s nostalgia and the presence of burgeoning star Glen Powell, Twisters could be July’s perfect storm.
Deadpool & Wolverine | Disney / Marvel Studios
July 26 (PLF)
Opening Weekend Range: $180 – $220M (as of 7/10)
With 2016’s Deadpool ($363M domestic/$782.8M global) and Deadpool 2 ($324.5M domestic/ $785.8M global), the R-rated superhero franchise now sits at over $1.5 billion total. Following Disney’s purchase and rebranding of 20th Century Fox in 2019, Deadpool & Wolverine marks the first film in the series directly tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios’ teaser trailer for the film nearly broke the internet following its Super Bowl release, scoring 365 million views in just 24 hours, making it the most-viewed movie trailer of all time. When tickets went on sale, the film grabbed the best first-day pre-sales of the Deadpool franchise, as well as the best first-day ticket sales of 2024 to-date, for Fandango.
Capitalizing on Dune 2‘s viral popcorn bucket, Ryan Reynolds delivered on the promise of a suggestive Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn tub with the reveal of a Wolverine-focused bucket that has generated nearly 4 million views on Twitter. Shawn Levy directs the threequel, which stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who returns to the character of Wolverine for the first time since 2017’s Logan ($226.2M domestic/$619.1M global).
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