‘Despicable Me 4’ reigns at American box office

Gru and the minions celebrated a second week in first place at the North American box office this weekend, while a small horror movie called Longlegs...

Gru and the minions celebrated a second week in first place at the North American box office this weekend, while a small horror movie called "Longlegs” upset the starry $100 million "Fly Me to the Moon."

The supremacy of " Despicable Me 4 ” was hardly a surprise, as the Universal and Illumination franchise added $44.7 million and pushed the film over $200 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But the big upset came further down the charts with " Longlegs ” more than doubling the debut of the Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum romantic comedy " Fly Me to the Moon.”

"Longlegs,” an original horror about a serial killer starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, made an estimated $22.6 million from 2,510 theaters. That’s the best ever start for indie outfit Neon (most famous for releasing the Oscar-winning "Parasite”), which acquired the $10 million film for distribution. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, "Longlegs” also scored the best opening for an R-rated film this year.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was "Fly Me to the Moon,” an Apple Original Films production which launched with only $10 million. It trailed holdovers "Inside Out 2,” in third with $20.8 million; and "A Quiet Place: Day One,” in fourth place with $11.8 million.

Sony distributed "Fly Me to the Moon,” the Greg Berlanti-directed film about a marketing executive brought in to sell the space race to the American public, and, later, stage a fake moon landing just in case. It opened in 3,356 locations this weekend, attracting an audience that was mostly over 45.