The Minions are ruling again. Germany’s and Austria’s summer box office defies all logic, and insane heatwaves are only partly to blame. In Austria, the little creatures even fought their way back to the top after having gotten demoted last week.

The little yellow hoodlums cannot be beaten. Not by Thor, not by Cruise, not by anyone, least of all a T-Rex or Elvis. After a month in theaters Minions 2 – Auf der Suche nach dem Mini Boss (Minions 2 – In Search for the Mini-Boss) is still the number one film, leaving Thor: Love and Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick way behind in second and third place. And Jurassic World: Ein Neues Zeitalter (Jurassic World: Dominion) and Elvis in the dust aka in fifth and seventh spot respectively.

The fourth place went to the French comedy Monsieur Claude und sein grosses Fest (Monsieur Claude and his big Party) which made this film the most impressive debut of the summer so far. No surprise here, though: the third movie of the series follows in the footsteps of the first two, beloved in most European countries. Christian Clavier plays the title character, a father who looks with suspicion at the marriages of his four daughters Odile (Julia Piaton), Isabelle (Frédérique Bel), Ségolène (Émilie Caen), and the youngest, Laure (Élodie Fontan). Their husbands – who are from all walks of life, different religions, and definitely some interesting habits – are a thorn in their father-in-law’s side, to say the least. It doesn’t help that Monsieur Claude and his wife Marie Verneuil (Chantal Lauby), their mother have their 40^th wedding anniversary. Planned by their girls as a huge surprise party at a lavish country estate, no less. With the addition of all the in-laws receiving invitations. The whole big family has to stay under the same roof. And so, the recipe for chaos is just perfect. Director Philippe de Chauveron is back behind the camera and wrote the screenplay by himself for the first time.

Bibi und Tina – Einfach Anders (Bibi and Tina – Simply Different) is the second highest debut. The adventures of young witch Bibi, her best friend Tina, and their love for horses is very much beloved in Germany. The fifth film by director Detlev Buck saw a change in casting. The protagonists, originally played by Lina Larissa Stahl und Lisa-Marie Koroll got replaced by Katharina Hirschberg as Bibi Blocksberg and Harriet Herbig-Matten as Tina Martin. The original actors aged out of the roles.

Liebesdings, The Black Phone and the Emma Thompson–starrer Meine Stunden mit Leo (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) round out the top ten.

All in all, 950.000 tickets were sold to the tune of € 8,78 million.

Austria is also Minion-ized again. Two weeks after Thor started dominating the charts, they showed the thunder god not so lovingly the door. Monsieur Claude und sein grosses Fest (Monsieur Claude and his big Party) did even better in the country than in its northern neighbor – and debuted in third place. Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Ein Neues Zeitalter (Jurassic World: Dominion) made up the top five.