“Despicable Me 4 ”wins the weekend as “Longlegs” kills its way to a $25 million debut

Elsewhere, Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson's "Fly Me to the Moon" debuted to $10 million.

The Minions have grabbed the top spot at the summer box office and they aren’t letting go.

For the second week in a row, Despicable Me 4 is enjoying a lucrative weekend in theaters. Dropping 40 percent from its debut earnings, the Illumination sequel has raked in $44.6 million domestically, bringing its gross to $211 million only two weeks into its release.

The series, which began just 12 years ago with Despicable Me, has become one of the  highest-grossing animated franchises of all time. Abroad, the film collected another $87.9 million for a global cume of $437.8 million.

Now for the question on everyone’s mind: will Longlegs have legs at the summer box office? Only time will tell, but so far, the serial killer movie has hit the ground running.

Related: Nicolas Cage breaks down his 'androgynous' Longlegs role and using his mother as inspiration

The latest horror film from Oz Perkins debuted to $22.6 million at the domestic box office, for a global gross of $25.7 million. The film follows Maika Monroe as FBI Agent Lee Harker, a perceptive detective assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes an unexpected turn, revealing evidence of the occult.

Mystery is likely a driving force for those rushing to theaters to see the horror flick. Besides unraveling the secrets behind the mysterious killer, moviegoers will exclusively be privy to the horrifying transformation that Nicolas Cage makes as the film’s titular killer. Thus far, the character has purposely been purposely hidden in trailers and marketing material for the film.

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"It's driving people towards a freak show at a circus tent," Perkins told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film’s release. "We've got the thing behind the curtain, and when there's enough people gathered 'round, we're going to pull the curtain."

Cage added, “He is going to change your reality. Your doors of perception are going to open, and your life is not going to be the same."

In less frightening news, Pixar enjoyed another emotional weekend with Inside Out 2 continuing a successful run in theaters. While it dropped 32 percent from last week’s earnings, the sequel film still picked up $20.7 million at the domestic box office, five weeks into its release. Now the highest-grossing Pixar movie ever, the sequel to 2015's Inside Out sits at a domestic gross of $572.5 million, with a global cume of $1.3 billion.

Related: Despicable Me 4 director on why the new Mega Minions were inspired by Fantastic Four

Another sequel snagged fourth place: A Quiet Place: Day One, the latest entry in John Krasinkski’s thrilling post-apocalyptic franchise, arrived in June with the emotional tale of Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, and an exceptionally silent kitty. The film added another $11.8 million to its $116.2 million domestic gross. Internationally, the thriller about surviving New York while super-hearing aliens hunt humanity, earned slightly less, earning $10.4 million for a global cume of $220.7 million.

Rounding out fifth is Fly Me to the Moon, the Apple film starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson as a NASA launch chief and marketing guru whose meet cute is overshadowed when they end up working together in the final days of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The film debuted to just $10 million domestically, earning another $9 million in international markets for a global total of $19 million. Its theatrical performance aside, the film is likely to draw more viewers when it arrives on the studio’s streaming service, AppleTV+.

Related: Fly Me to the Moon uses a lot of real footage from NASA

Johansson told EW that she was determined to get the film made, as audiences are hungry for sweeping, romantic comedies.

“The most challenging projects to find are romantic comedies and dramedies,” said Johansson. “The totally original script by Rose Gilroy was what excited me most about this film. It is a big picture movie that feels both nostalgic and so modern and the kind of movie I'm always reaching for that you rarely get to see in theaters these days. Audiences are hungry for original films!”

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.