Like many other movies of the last two years, Minions: The Rise of Gru has had many delays since its original expected release date of July 3rd, 2020, but thanks to that delay, the film is about to break two Super Bowl records when the new trailer for the film drops during the game. As one of the most impacted movies of the Covid pandemic, Illumination and Universal Studios will be hoping that the Minions sequel will finally get to be a huge success when it is released on July 1st, but just to bolster the attention the movie gets the studio is forking out a second $6.5 million to have a new trailer put out during the biggest TV broadcast in the U.S.This year’s Super Bowl game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will be one of the most watched events of the year, and for that reason Hollywood has a host of big movie trailers lined up to air during the broadcast for upcoming titles such as Jurassic World Dominion, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and many more. With a 30-second slot costing a staggering $6.5 million, it is clear that getting one of those short segments is the most widespread advertising opportunity in the world and most of the time, it is a one off affair. That, though, is not the case when it comes to Minions: The Rise of Gru.Back in 2020, the new installment of the Despicable Me franchise aired its first trailer during the Super Bowl, with the intention of the film releasing later that year. Thanks to that not transpiring, when the new trailer airs, Minions: The Rise of Gru will become the first movie to air trailers at non-consecutive Super Bowls, and will have broken the record of the most money spend on Super Bowl advertising, with a gargantuan $12.2 million spent across the two trailers, per Screen Rant.
Universal’s Faith In Minions: The Rise of Gru Is Apparent From Their Super Bowl Spending
While these records seem to be guaranteed to be held by Minions: The Rise of Gru alone, the fact that Universal is essentially adding another $6.5 million in Super Bowl advertising to the $5.6 million spent in 2020 shows that they are hoping for a huge return in July. Paramount could in theory match both of these records if they were to put out a trailer for Top Gun: Maverick, which also ran a trailer in 2020 only to have the movie delayed to this year. However, having only just seen Tom Cruise star in a custom trailer during the AFC title game, it is unlikely they will want to push up the advertising budget even further.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is one of the few movies that Universal chose not to put out as a streaming release, which is something they did with both Trolls World Tour and the recent release of Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. While the decision has allowed the movie to be the only one to likely ever broadcast Super Bowl trailers in non-consecutive years, Universal will now be hoping that the gamble will pay off when the film finally debuts in the summer.