Will the Minions continue to prevail at the box office?
The babbling little slapstick 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 & Monsters. Overseas, they’ll continue to translate, with a vibrant foreign weekend including previews around $90 million from 59 new territories including the UK, Germany, Mexico and China as well as holdovers in France, Belgium, Australia and Netherlands. The sequel already has cleared some $10M abroad in 10 territories.
The big question remains North America, where the current forecast is $80M over five days in tracking at 4,000 theaters. However, exhibitors have Minions & 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 & Monsters is looking at a $170M global weekend.
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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 & 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 a la 20th Century Fox’s previous Ice Age (which is actually getting a revival with a new movie next year). The most recent Ice Age movie, 2016’s Collision Course, melted down to a $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: The 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).
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So far, Minions & Monsters is the best reviewed one in the Gru-and-little-guys series 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 voice-over 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 & Monsters has taken in a great $824,000 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 on Sunday. Brazil also has a World Cup game Sunday against Norway, which could slow moviegoing there.
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China is a very erratic market. The upside for Minions & 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 itself 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 Grammer. Outlook is $15M, with the historical biopic opening Friday.
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Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 will hold strong with a third weekend around $35M, off 50% from Weekend 2. The pic cleared $306.2M at the domestic B.O. on Tuesday.
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 by 65%-70% with an $11M-$12M frame. She made $2.9M on Monday, moving her four-day total to $40M. The Flash fell by 73% in its second weekend off a B CinemaScore in 2023, while Joker: Folie à Deux fell by a massive 81% in 2024 — but that was off a D CinemaScore; Supergirl got a B-.
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