The banana-yellow minions chattered their way to the top of the weekend holiday box office, but fell short of delivering triple-digit millions in projected ticket sales.
Minions & Monsters, produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures, brought in an estimated $36.4 million over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and $61.4 million in the five days since its July 1 opening, according to Rentrak.
The PG-rated Minions, starring the manic creatures from the Despicable Me movies, sold another $85 million internationally -- grossing $159.9 million worldwide in its first weekend.
Minions and other movies generated an estimated $121.3 million weekend at the North American box office, down about 23% from the same weekend last year, when Universal's Jurassic World: Rebirth sold $92 million in its first three days and $147.8 million in its first five days.
Last year's July Fourth weekend generated $156.7 million in domestic box office.
The Hollywood box office through Sunday is estimated at $4.95 billion, up 13.2% from this point last year, and remains on pace for its highest revenue year since 2019, per Rentrak. Attendance totals through June 28 are 349.4 million, up 9.8% from the first half of last year, according to EntTelligence.
Box office ticket sales since May 1 are $2.32 billion, up 11.9% over the same period last summer. Revenue is down 7.25% from the same point in the summer of 2019, but is still projected to surpass $4 billion, because of high expectations for films coming out later in July.
Industry observers have said audiences have "franchise fatigue," and are more interested in fresh, original storytelling.
The Minions have now starred in seven movies, including the four Despicable Me titles, in the past 11 years. The five Toy Story movies, in comparison, have been released over 31 years.
"The Minions are incredibly popular characters, and those pesky little guys are beloved by audiences around the world," said Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak's head of marketplace trends.
The previous two Minions movies, he noted, sold more than $2.1 billion in global box office.
The first Minions movie, released in July 2015, sold $46 million on its first day and made $115.7 million its opening weekend. It eventually sold $336.8 million domestically and $1.17 billion worldwide.
Minions: The Rise of Gru, released in July 2022, sold $48.2 million its first day and made $107 million its first weekend. It went on to sell $370.6 million in domestic ticket sales and $943.6 million worldwide.
The four Despicable Me movies collectively made $1.25 billion in domestic box office and $3.54 billion worldwide, according to Rentrak.
Of the 4.4 million who went to see Minions & Monsters over the weekend, 46% were men, 54% were women, 32% were under 13 years old, and 63% were family groups, according to EntTelligence.
Minions was competing with Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios' Toy Story 5 , which came in second with $31 million in domestic ticket sales in its third weekend. The movie has grossed $366.3 million in domestic ticket sales and $764.3 million worldwide, including $25.6 million on IMAX screens, since opening on June 19.
In third place was Angel Studios' Young Washington, a PG-13-rated historical drama about George Washington before the Revolutionary War, which sold $20.8 million in its first weekend.
In fourth place was Warner Bros.' presentation of DC Studios' Supergirl, the sequel to last year's Superman. It sold an estimated $9.6 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic box office total to $58.5 million and its global total to $100.5 million, including $13.7 million on IMAX, according to Rentrak.
Disney's live-action Moana opens on Friday. Universal Pictures' The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan and the first film shot entirely with IMAX 70mm film cameras, opens July 17. Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens on July 31.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 05, 2026 16:04 ET (20:04 GMT)
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