It seems we’ve reached the animation domination portion of the summer movie season, as the 2026 movie schedule has or will be ushering in the releases of big animated flicks. One of the latest titles to fit that bill is Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5, which opened in cinemas nearly two weeks ago. The legacy sequel smashed records in its box office debut and, now, it’s Minions & Monsters’ turn up at bat. Early tracking numbers are in and, while the totals aren’t as big as TS5’s, the folks at Illumination may have reason to celebrate.
What’s The Box Office Forecast For Minions & Monsters This Upcoming Weekend?
Right now, it’s being predicted that Minions & Monsters – the third installment in the Despicable Me spinoff series – is heading for an $80 million domestic haul amid the five-day 4th of July holiday weekend. Deadline also reports, though, that exhibitors are predicting the film will earn between $60 and $90 million here in the United States. As for the international numbers, the sequel is reportedly poised to $90 million alone overseas. So, if the North American number pans out, the film could make $170 million worldwide.
Those figures are nothing to throw a banana at, and I’m not surprised that this threequel is tracking this way. After all, the diminutive, yellow henchmen have been delighting audiences for years now but, on a less anecdotal note, the Despicable Me franchise has historically performed with July releases. Minions opened on July 10, 2015 and finished its run with over $1.1 billion globally against a $74 million budget. Its 2022 sequel, The Rise of Gru, opened on July 1 and made $940 million worldwide against an $80-$100 million budget.
Minions & Monsters follows the titular characters in 1927 during the age of Old Hollywood, as the attempt to make a monster movie. What results is pure chaos and hilarity and, so far, the mind-blowing critical reactions to the film indicate that Illumination has another well-received flick on its hands. Of course, the numbers above shouldn’t be taken as the gospel. However, between those numbers and the positive reviews – which, as of this writing, amount to an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score – there’s reason for execs to be hopeful.
How Much Has Toy Story 5 Made So Far, And What Could It Do Amid 4th Of July?
It would be an understatement to say that Toy Story 5 smashed the box office during its debut weekend. The Andrew Stanton-directed film earned $160 million domestically, which marked the highest sum that any installment in the Pixar franchise had earned in its first three days of release. Also, that benchmark serves as the biggest domestic release of the year thus far. At the same time, the film also made $152 million internationally, which brought its worldwide total to $312 million. (For context, the film was made on a $250 million budget.)
The momentum carried into the second weekend as well, as the legacy sequel lassoed another massive haul of $70 million domestically, marking only a 56% drop. As it stands, the film has earned over $597 million globally. As for this weekend, Deadline reports that Jessie, Woody, Buzz and the gang will land $35 million here in the states during its third weekend.
Considering the early positive reviews Toy Story 5 has received and the hype around Taylor Swift performing a song for it, it definitely tracks that people would be eager to revisit these characters. I’m particularly interested in seeing what the film’s final total will be by the time its theatrical run ends. Of course, I’ll also be keeping a close eye on the Minions threequel to see if it can notch another box office win for animation.
Minions & Monsters is now playing in theaters nationwide alongside Toy Story 5.
