MINIONS & MONSTERS

The current weekend: July 3 to 5, 2026 July 4th Independence Day weekend 1) Minions & Monsters opening - This is a weak opening for the highest-earning animation series in the history of the business. It's the 3rd episode of Minions, and the 7th of Despicable Me and Minions. The est. weekend figure is down -64% from the last episode - that's severe. Parts of the release are good: Foreign business is good, the budget was a reasonable $85 million, critics' reviews are outstanding, and the audience score is excellent (an A- CinemaScore), although it's a half step below earlier Minions (all A's before this). The movie will be profitable, but it's a misfire. No other animation series, including spin-offs, has generated seven episodes, ever. The films have earned $5.6 billion at the BO. But animation series do not last forever, and Minions ran out of interesting story to tell. Seven episodes is further than any animation series has gone. Audiences are showing fatigue now: - Next weekend, the market will have three popular family titles in release. Toy Story is crossing $700 million worldwide in its 3rd round, and Disney's Moana live-action remake opens next weekend. We'll see if this is about Minions, or if this is a broader saturation with animation. Toy Story is a smash, and the last Moana picture earned $1.06 billion worldwide in 2024. Next weekend will tell. Here are the top-4 animation series of all time: Despicable Me-Minions: $5.6 billion, before the current film, 7 episodes Toy Story-Lightyear: $4.2 billion, including the current film, 6 episodes Shrek-Puss in Boots: $4.0 billion, 6 episodes, #7 arrives next summer Ice Age: $3.2 billion, 6 episodes 2) Young Washington opening - This is an excellent opening for a war drama biography. The film is about the early years of the first American president, George Washington, and the opening is more than double the average for the genre, with an outstanding audience score (an A CinemaScore). The story is told from a patriotic, pro-America and faith-oriented point of view, and the release coincides with the nation's 250th anniversary. For an inspirational story, the opening is even more impressive. Critics' reviews are fair, as they generally are for inspirational movies. There's limited potential overseas, but the domestic run should be good. The estimated cost was only $20 million. Angel Studios knows how to reach this audience - these are excellent numbers for the genre: 3) Where we are now - Early July usually has big superhero and action pictures, but this year family movies are doing the work. They've kept the box office close to pre-pandemic levels, but momentum just shifted and this weekend is a drop - you can see it below. Superheroes return later this month: Spider-Man 9 arrives on July 31. Then DC Comics' Clayface body horror pic opens on Oct 23, and later Avengers 5 on Dec 18. The two sequels will be huge and they'll help the 2nd half of the year. Moviegoing was enjoying a strong run through the first half of summer. This weekend, moviegoers stepped back. We'll see if they return in big numbers for Moana and The Odyssey: Our last two posts were: THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS: June and the first half of 2026 at the box office | July preview | July 1, 2026 here SUPERGIRL | JACKASS: BEST AND LAST openings | Superhero movies at the box office | Where we are now | June 26 to 28, 2026 weekend here To see all of our work, be sure to upgrade: Upgrade Source: https://franchisere.substack.com/p/minions-and-monsters-despicable-me-young-washington-inspirational-founding-of-america-angel-studios