UPDATE AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Illumination/Universal‘s Minions & Monsters came in ahead of where we spotted it Wednesday with $14.23M and an A- CinemaScore.
With the movie rising to 69 territories overall this weekend (10 of those released last weekend), note that even if domestic eases here for the seventh movie in the 16-year-old Gru-and-little-guys franchise, overseas will take over. International box office typically delivers some 60%-plus for these movies. Two of them crossed a billion — 2015’s Minions and 2017’s Despicable Me 3–but three of ’em came close to $1B, that being 2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, 2013’s Despicable Me 2 and 2024’s Despicable Me 4.
As far as that A- goes, it’s the second one for the Illumination franchise after Despicable Me 3.
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Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 made $7.8M on Wednesday, off by 38% from Tuesday’s $12.6M. The running cume for the Andrew Stanton-directed movie is $326.6M. Warner Bros/DC’s Supergirl was third with $2.1M and a running six-day total of $46.5M.
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PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE: Illumination/Universal’s Minions & Monsters is posting an estimated $13.75M opening day — that’s without any previews. The Chris Melandandri-produced, Pierre Coffin-directed animated movie is the seventh title in the Despicable Me and Minions $5.6 billion global grossing franchise, and it’s easily No. 1 for today.
There’s a lot of runway left in the holiday weekend, especially with July 4th falling on a Saturday, which happened most recently in 2020, 2015 and 2009. Due to holiday activities, typically there’s a falloff in moviegoing on July 4, but Friday and Sunday will be high for a family film such as Minions & Monsters.
While Minions & Monsters is posting the fourth-best opening Wednesday for an animated movie in July behind Despicable Me 2 ($35M), Despicable Me 4 ($27.2M) and 2009’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($13.79M), the latest Illumination title is the best reviewed ever for the 16-year-old franchise at 90% certified fresh. The tracking forecast for Minions & Monsters was $80M, but exhibitor projections were wide between $60M-$90M. The film cost a net $85M before global P&A spend, we understand.
Minions & Monsters follows the early days of Gru’s little henchman in the 1920s heyday of Hollywood from their rise and fall and rise again as movie stars and defenders of Earth against an alien invasion. Minions & Monsters made $10M+ from 10 offshore territories last weekend including France, Belgium and France.
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 is No. 2 for Wednesday, we hear, with $7M-$8M, for a running cume around $326M in its second week.
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Among 5-day animated openings over the Independence Day holiday, Despicable Me 2 owns the record at $143M, followed by Despicable Me 4 at $122.6M.
Also opening on Friday is Angel Studios and Wonder Project’s historical biopic Young Washington starring Andy Serkis, Mary-Louise Parker, Ben Kingsley, Kelsey Grammer and William Franklyn-Miller as the Father of Our Country.