Minions & Monsters tops July 4 box office with a franchise-low $64M debut
Minions & Monsters won the July 4 holiday weekend with $64 million over five days — the lowest opening in Despicable Me franchise history. The numbers and the reasons.
The little yellow ones still run the box office — just with less noise than usual. Minions & Monsters, the seventh film in the Despicable Me universe, led the July 4 holiday weekend in the United States with roughly $64 million over five days, short of the $80 million the studio had been aiming for. It’s the lowest opening in the franchise’s history.
How much did Minions & Monsters make on opening?
About $64 million from Wednesday through Sunday, including $39.5 million over the three-day weekend, across more than 4,000 North American cinemas. For almost any other film that’s a party; for a franchise used to nine-figure debuts, it’s a sign of fatigue — or at the very least of a treacherous calendar.
Why did it come in under expectations?
July 4 fell on a Saturday, and this year marked America’s 250th birthday: between barbecues, fireworks and a World Cup being played on home soil, the multiplex slid down the priority list. There was still room for a surprise — Young Washington, Angel Studios’ historical drama released to ride the anniversary, opened to $15-20 million over four days.
For Universal and Illumination the reading is mixed: first place was never in doubt and the Minions remain one of family cinema’s few sure things, but the era when painting everything yellow guaranteed records may be asking for a holiday.
See also: animation still owns the summer box office. The official release calendar is at Universal Pictures.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: Universal Pictures / Illumination
