Who would have thought that Netflix’s biggest hit of 2025 would be a bunch of yellow troublemakers? While many subscribers have been groaning about a lack of standout originals, The Old Guard 2, Madea’s Destination Wedding, and The Electric State didn’t exactly break the internet, Despicable Me 4 has swooped in to save the day for the streaming giant. According to Nielsen, the animated sequel racked up a massive 6.274 billion minutes viewed, making it the most-watched movie on Netflix this year so far. Not bad for a film that first hit theaters back in 2024.
The numbers are even more impressive when you see what it’s up against. Moana 2 dominated Disney+ with a whopping 7.227 billion minutes, while Netflix’s own Back in Action trailed behind at 5.264 billion. Even big releases like The Electric State, Kraven the Hunter, and Gladiator II couldn’t compete with Gru’s bald head and his army of chaotic Minions.
Directed by Chris Renaud and co-directed by Patrick Delage, Despicable Me 4 sticks to the formula that made the franchise a family favorite. Written by Mike White and Ken Daurio, the movie follows Gru (voiced again by Steve Carell) as he moves his family into a safe house after his old rival, Maxime Le Mal, resurfaces for revenge. The voice cast is stacked: Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Miranda Cosgrove, Joey King, Stephen Colbert, Sofía Vergara, and Will Ferrell all show up to play.
The story doesn’t just focus on Gru, though. There’s a subplot about his daughter struggling to adjust to their new life, and a teenager, Poppy Prescott, who dreams of becoming a villain. And because this is Despicable Me, the Minions steal the show once again—this time by becoming superheroes in a side story that critics weren’t exactly thrilled about.
The critics, however, weren’t too kind. Rotten Tomatoes reports a mediocre 56% approval rating with an average score of 5.6/10, and Metacritic gives it 52/100. But audiences are a completely different story. CinemaScore handed it an A, and PostTrak revealed that 82% of viewers felt positive about the film, with 63% saying they’d recommend it to friends. Clearly, families don’t care what critics say when it comes to Gru and his banana-loving sidekicks.
Despicable Me 4 proves that sometimes people just want fun, familiar comfort viewing, especially since many of Netflix’s most recent original movies haven’t delivered at all. And for all the talk about Happy Gilmore 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl being 2025’s must-watch films, audiences keep coming back to Gru.
Of course, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and the Norwegian kaiju sequel, Troll 2, could shake up that list quite a bit.
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