Not even the Minions are bulletproof. Minions & Monsters, the latest Minions movie in the larger Despicable Me franchise, came in under the most conservative expectations over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, earning just $61 million in North America across the five days and $36.4 million over the traditional three-day frame. “Not great,” says Sean McNulty. “That’s half of what the last two films opened over the July 4 weekend in 2022 and 2024. Any comp you put on this, there’s really not a great spin to be found on these numbers.” Directed by Minions co-creator and voice actor Pierre Coffin, his first time solo directing a movie in the franchise, Minions & Monsters focused on the little yellow creatures and their adventures in 1920s Hollywood at the dawn of sound. Among the voice actors in the cast are Christoph Waltz as a film director, Jeff Bridges as a pair of studio-owning brothers and Jesse Eisenberg as a robot from outer space. “What was this movie?” asks Christopher Rosen. “Minions & Monsters is a great title. But you don’t really get that title in the movie’s marketing. You get the Minions in Old Hollywood trying to make a monster movie. That’s cool, but if it were just a straightforward movie where the Minions battled monsters, would that have gotten more people to the movies? And would Universal have been able to promote it a little more easily with marketing? This was maybe a tough sell, despite the great title.” But aside from disappointing opening returns, there’s a pretty big silver lining here for Universal and the Minions production company, Illumination. The movie cost a reported $85 million, significantly below the budget of something like Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 (which had a reported budget of $250 million). As a result, even if it tops out at $500 million worldwide, Minions & Monsters will be a financial success for the studio. “Even Pixar’s Hoppers, a movie where Jon Hamm was the biggest name in the cast — they weren’t paying Tom Hanks or Tim Allen to come back for Toy Story — cost $150 million,” Sean says of Pixar’s March entry, which barely broke even with $389 million worldwide. “The math that Universal has set up with Illumination on this makes these movies [safe]. Even Super Mario Galaxy cost only $110 million. And that was a sequel to a huge franchise. The math on these movies is pretty astounding.” 
Minions & Monsters wasn’t the only disappointment this weekend. Warner Bros.’ Supergirl cratered after its underwhelming debut, dropping more than 74 percent — a worse second-weekend decline than notorious flops like The Flash and Masters of the Universe. Overall, the movie has grossed just over $100 million worldwide. “It’s really rough. I mean, when you’re getting compared negatively to The Flash,” says Chris. “That’s not what you want.” |
