‘Minions & Monsters’ Hauls in $16M Opening Friday at the Box Office

Universal and Illumination’s Minions & Monsters is leading the Independence Day weekend box office after a strong Friday opening.

The animated film earned $16 million on Friday from 4,243 theaters across North America, placing it firmly at No. 1 for the day. Based on current estimates, the movie is projected to bring in around $39.5 million domestically over the full weekend. That would push its total North American gross to about $64 million shortly after its July 1 release.

Internationally, the film is also performing strongly. Estimates suggest it will add another $87 million from overseas markets by Sunday, giving it a solid global footprint in its opening stretch.

Minions & Monsters continues Universal’s long-running success with the Minions franchise. Previous entries have been major global hits, including Minions: The Rise of Gru in 2022, which earned around $940 million worldwide, and Despicable Me 4 in 2024, which reached nearly $972 million globally. The original Minions film from 2015 remains the biggest of the group, with over $1.15 billion worldwide.

The new film shifts the familiar yellow characters into a different setting. In this story, the Minions try to become filmmakers in the 1920s. They search for monsters to include in their homemade horror-style movie, mixing their usual chaotic humor with a more genre-focused adventure.

The voice cast includes Pierre Coffin, who also co-directs the film alongside Patrick Delage. Coffin is joined by a large ensemble of voice actors and performers, including Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, and Phil LaMarr. Coffin also co-wrote the screenplay with Brian Lynch.

The strong opening puts Minions & Monsters ahead of several major competitors over the holiday weekend. In second place, Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 earned $13 million on Friday and is expected to reach around $32 million for the weekend. That would bring its domestic total to approximately $367 million.

Third place went to Angel Studios’ Young Washington, which opened with an estimated $7.4 million on Friday and is tracking toward a $16 million weekend total. Warner Bros. and DC’s Supergirl followed in fourth with $3.6 million on Friday, continuing a steep decline after its earlier opening weekend performance.

Rounding out the top five is Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, which earned $2.2 million on Friday and is expected to reach about $5.5 million for the weekend.

Despite strong competition across multiple family and franchise titles, Minions & Monsters has clearly captured the widest audience heading into the holiday frame, continuing the franchise’s long track record of box office dominance.

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