Will the Minions continue to prevail at the box office?
The little slapstick babbling guys are now teenagers at 16 years old (the first Despicable Me movie came out in 2010) and they’re pushing their seventh movie in the Illumination franchise with Minions and Monsters. Overseas, they’ll continue to translate, with a vibrant foreign weekend including previews around $90M from 59 new territories including UK, Germany, Mexico, and China as well as holdovers in France, Belgium, Australia and Netherlands (the sequel already cleared some $10M abroad in ten territories).
The big question remains North America where the current forecast is $80M over 5-days in tracking at 4,000 theaters. However, exhibitors have Minions and Monsters with a $60M-$90M Wednesday through Sunday swing over the U.S. Independence Day holiday. There are no Tuesday previews tonight. Tracking is better with moms than dads (as far as those taking a child) with first choice behind Minions: Rise of Gru by 40%.
If the North American forecast holds up, Minions and Monsters is looking at a $170M global weekend.
Independence Day falls on a Saturday this year (the last time being in 2020 during Covid when theaters were closed, but then previously in 2009) and whenever that happens in a normal box office year it shifts dollars around the weekend, read Minions and Monsters‘ most notable grossing days should be opening day Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Just when you think audiences have tired of the “banana” guys, they defy expectations and prove that this animated franchise isn’t becoming extinct ala 20th Century Fox’s previous Ice Age (which is actually getting a revival next year with a new movie). The last Ice Age movie, 2016’s Collision Course, melted down to $21.3M opening.
Minions and Despicable Me have stayed strong: 2024’s Despicable Me 4 opened to a $75M 3-day, and $122.6M over five days stateside back in 2024, while 2022’s Minions: Rise of Gru did $107M 3-day and $123M over four (July 4th falling on a Monday). Combined, the Despicable Me and Minions movies have reaped $5.6 billion at the global box office and hundreds of millions more in merchandise. Minions and Despicable Me 3 each finaled at $1 billion-plus at the global box office with three other movies reaching near billion levels (well north of $900M+ WW).
So far, Minions and Monsters is the best reviewed one in the Gru and little guys series yet at 92% fresh from 49 reviews at the time of this post. The pic tells the story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood in the 1920s, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and then banded together to try and save the planet from the mayhem they had just created. Some parts of the film are displayed in a light shade (similar to sepia, just multi-light colored). Oscar-nominated filmmaker Pierre Coffin, the voice of the Minions, directs. He was behind the first three DM movies and the first Minions movie.
The voiceover cast includes Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague), South Park co-creator Trey Parker, Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan and King of the Hill‘s Phil LaMarr.
Strongest territories will be UK, Latin America (especially Mexico) and Germany (where Minions and Monsters has taken in a great $824K in Saturday previews ranking No. 1 for the day). It’s between Mexico and the UK in regards to the pic’s biggest offshore market for the sequel. But the World Cup will impact grosses in Mexico: There’s a game today, but if the country wins, they’ll advance to the round of 16 starting Sunday. Brazil also has a World Cup game on Sunday against Norway which could slow moviegoing.
China is a very erratic market for the Illumination franchise: one movie opened to $30M, another to $50m, so it’s always about time and place for any given installment. The upside for Minions and Monsters here is that they’ll have summer holidays on their side with families in the Middle Kingdom.
William Franklyn-Miller in ‘Young Washington‘
Pat Redmond
Angel Studios, the faith-based label that made a name for themselves over the July 4th weekend three years ago with the hit Sound of Freedom ($19.6M 3-day, $184.1M domestic final), has the Jon Erwin directed Young Washington starring William Franklyn-Miller as the Father of Our Country as well as Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis, Mary-Louise Parker, and Kelsey Grammar. Outlook at $15M with historical biopic opening on Friday.
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 will hold strong with a third weekend around $35M, -50% from weekend 2. The pic cleared $306.2M at the domestic B.O. yesterday.
Light candles and say prayers for Warner Bros/DC Studios’ Supergirl which is bound to leap off a building with a single bound in weekend 2 and plummet -65% to -70% with an $11M to $12M second frame. She made $2.9M on Monday moving her four-day total to $40M. The Flash fell -73% in its second weekend off a B CinemaScore while Joker: Folie a Deux fell down a massive -81% (but that was off a D CinemaScore, Supergirl got a B-).
