‘Minions & Monsters’ Just Got a Digital Release Date

Animated sequels tend to follow a familiar rhythm: theatrical run, steady weekly grosses, then an eventual jump to digital shelves once the theatrical window winds down. ‘Minions & Monsters’ has mostly followed that same pattern since opening on July 1, though its box office journey along the way has been anything but ordinary.

The seventh entry in the Despicable Me franchise is now preparing for its next phase, with the film reportedly heading to digital and VOD platforms on August 11, according to a release date that surfaced on Apple TV. Universal has not officially confirmed the date, and as always with unconfirmed digital release windows, it remains subject to change.

That home release arrives against the backdrop of a genuinely unusual box office run. ‘Minions & Monsters’ has now crossed $400 million at the worldwide box office, a milestone that sounds impressive on its face but actually represents the weakest overall performance of any film in the Despicable Me and Minions franchise to date.

The film’s struggles were most pronounced domestically, where it opened to just $61.4 million over its five-day holiday debut, the lowest launch in franchise history and roughly half of what 2022’s ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ pulled in in similar conditions. Box office newsletter publisher David A. Gross, discussing the film’s fatigue-driven underperformance in comments to Variety, said that seven installments is further than any animation series has gone, adding, “Audiences are showing fatigue now.”

Internationally, the story has looked considerably brighter. Overseas audiences have consistently outpaced domestic turnout throughout the film’s run, with markets including China, Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom delivering strong opening numbers that helped push the worldwide total steadily upward even as North American numbers lagged behind expectations at nearly every weekly checkpoint.

That international strength hasn’t been enough to erase the film’s overall underperformance relative to its predecessors, however. Prior entries in the franchise have routinely crossed $900 million to over $1 billion worldwide, making ‘Minions & Monsters’ an outlier even with its $400 million milestone now in the rearview mirror. The film has also had to compete for screens against a crowded summer slate that included ‘Toy Story 5’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey,’ both of which have continued eating into its available theatrical real estate as the weeks have gone on.

There is a silver lining for Universal and Illumination in all of this. Produced for a comparatively modest $85 million, well below the roughly $100 million budgets of recent franchise entries, ‘Minions & Monsters’ cleared its estimated break-even point weeks ago and has been turning a profit ever since, regardless of how its final tally stacks up against past chapters.

Critical reception has also remained a bright spot throughout the film’s run. The movie holds a franchise-best score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned an A-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polling, suggesting that audience satisfaction, at least among those who did show up, has not been the issue driving the softer numbers.

The film’s domestic run has continued to slow with each passing weekend, with theater counts shrinking as competing releases claimed more screens. Despite that decline, the movie has maintained relatively healthy legs at the international box office throughout its run, a pattern that has historically defined the Despicable Me franchise’s commercial success even when domestic openings have disappointed.

As ‘Minions & Monsters’ prepares for its home release, the film’s legacy within the franchise looks set to be a strange mix of records: its lowest-grossing installment by a wide margin, yet still a comfortably profitable one.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!