‘Minions & Monsters’ Sets Unfortunate Box Office Record This Summer

The summer movie season of 2026 has already brought unexpected twists, with not all surprises stemming from anticipated blockbusters. Typically, the Independence Day weekend guarantees a few box office hits, especially from family-friendly franchises that lead the way during this busy period.

However, this year, the animated heavyweights faced a surprisingly tough competition. With a crowded holiday schedule, ongoing World Cup matches, and a heat dome affecting large areas of the country, drawing audiences to theaters proved more challenging than studios had anticipated.

This struggle is reflected in the performance of Illumination’s ‘Minions & Monsters,’ which garnered an estimated $36.4 million over its traditional three-day opening, as reported by Deadline. This figure now surpasses Warner Bros and DC’s ‘Supergirl,’ which debuted to $37.1 million just a week prior, marking the lowest three-day opening for a major blockbuster this summer.

The seventh entry in the Despicable Me and Minions franchise has brought in $61.4 million domestically since its debut on Wednesday, marking the weakest five-day opening in the series’ history. This figure falls significantly short of the $80 million target Universal had anticipated for the holiday weekend and is well below the earnings of the franchise’s two most recent films.

For context, ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ opened to $123.1 million during the same holiday period in 2022, while ‘Despicable Me 4’ earned $122.6 million in 2024. Even the original ‘Despicable Me’ film from 2010 surpassed the new film’s three-day total, bringing in $56.3 million without adjusting for inflation.

What makes this underperformance particularly notable is that ‘Minions & Monsters’ has received the best critical reception in the franchise’s history. The film boasts a 90 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, surpassing the original ‘Despicable Me’ as the highest-rated entry in the series, and it earned an A-minus grade on CinemaScore from audiences during its opening weekend.

David A. Gross, who runs the box office newsletter FranchiseRe, provided a straightforward explanation for the gap between quality and attendance, telling Variety that audiences appear fatigued with the franchise, even though the film itself is strong. He noted that the movie is still expected to be profitable despite its domestic struggles.

Directed by series co-creator Pierre Coffin, the film follows the Minions as they inadvertently unleash a wave of movie monsters while trying to create their own horror film in 1920s Hollywood. With an estimated production budget of $85 million, its break-even point is projected to be around $212.5 million worldwide based on typical industry multipliers.

Internationally, audiences have been more receptive to the film than those in the U.S. ‘Minions & Monsters’ has already surpassed the $100 million mark overseas, bringing its global total to over $159 million after just its second wide international release, according to Deadline. Historically, the franchise has relied on international markets for a significant portion of its earnings, and this release appears to be following that trend.

Universal’s domestic distribution chief Jim Orr expressed optimism about the film’s future, telling Deadline that the studio anticipates a long and profitable run for the movie throughout the summer. Whether this will hold true domestically remains uncertain, but the film’s unusually strong reviews could help it maintain better performance than previous entries as the weeks progress.

Despite these challenges, ‘Minions & Monsters’ still secured the top position at the domestic box office during the holiday weekend, outperforming Disney and Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 5’ in its third weekend of release. It also significantly surpassed ‘Supergirl,’ which faced a steep decline in its second weekend following a disappointing opening just a week earlier.

With several major releases still on the horizon this summer, including ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ all eyes will be on whether the domestic box office can recover from its recent downturn. Do you think ‘Minions & Monsters’ can rebound domestically as the summer progresses? Share your thoughts in the comments.