Gru is definitely rising. After weeks of slumping revenues, Minions: The Rise of Gru has brought a breath of fresh air.

The highly anticipated new chapter in the franchise, already a US blockbuster, has also shaken up the box office in Italy. In three days in which the film premiered (Aug. 8-11), it raked in 1.5 million euros. Even before the official launch, the animated film seems like the only new entry capable of bringing some Italian vacationers to movie theaters. The computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures is in fact the only novelty in a decidedly uneventful season marked by an almost total absence of interesting new domestic productions.

Instead, what left its mark in Italy, in a negative way, last week was the death of Alberto Angela, legendary science popularizer and television journalist, the first in the Bel Paese to bring science to the small screen. He conceived and hosted the hugely successful shows Quark and SuperQuark, which aired since 1981 and whose final season was completed by Angela just days before his death. During the funeral chamber, which was held at the Campidoglio in Rome on Monday, thousands of people attended, both well-known faces from Italian television and members of the scientific community, but above all many fans of all ages who, thanks to Piero Angela, expanded the boundaries of their knowledge.

Going back to the box office and the weekly chart, Minions: The Rise of Gru scored five times as much as the film that reached the second step of the podium. It is always a new entry: the thriller Nope, produced by Universal and directed by Jordan Peele, which closed the week with € 320,000 in takings. The third is Thor: Love and Thunder.

The Marvel-branded film centered on the adventures of the God of Thunder Thor (Chris Hemsworth) continues to attract theatrical audiences with €302,490, for a total of €10.2 million. 

In fourth place holds out Top Gun: Maverick, which grosses of € 216,650, surpassing € 12 million in total revenue.

The success of the re-releases of Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki‘s masterpieces continues: his The Wandering Castle of Howl closes the week with a gross of € 147 thousand, which brings the animated fantasy film to the fifth position in the chart.

The sixth place goes to Baz Luhrman‘s biopic Elvis, which grossed € 117 thousand and total revenues close to € 3 million. Sitting on seventh place is Jurassic World – Dominion, which with another € 77 thousand is preparing to surpass the € 8 million total box office.

Finally, the last three positions are occupied this week by The Twin (€ 37 thousand and a total of € 261 thousand), Shark Bait – Jet Ski (€ 26 thousand in the week, € 271 thousand in total, and finally, in tenth place the only movie