Box Office Global: ‘Minions & Monsters’ Better Than U.S. With Near $160M WW Cume

SUNDAY AM: Illumination/Universal’s Minions & Monsters saw their hides saved by foreign ticket sales with an $85M weekend (technically second wide frame), while they were squashed by franchise fatigue stateside with a $61.4M 5-day opening, the lowest start ever for the Despicable Me/Minions franchise. All in a No. 1 $146.4M global weekend across 72 territories, taking the nthquel’s running cume to $159.8M. As we previously wrote, even though this is the lowest of the bunch, the pic will be perfectly fine profit wise after its $85M net production cost and merchandise downstreams.

Yes, Disney’s live-action Moana is around the corner, and it will be big, but history has shown that these family movies ala U.S./Canada con co-exist. Holidays are on the horizon in a number of markets: France starts on Monday, Mexico on Wednesday, UK starts in two weeks, China’s will commence shortly. However, the heat wave in Europe remains a challenge and exhibs keep promoting their A.C. wares. Certainly, the World Cup has impacted multicultural audiences, especially in Mexico and stateside with the Land of the Sun playing tonight (however Latino and Hispanic audiences led the way to Minions & Monsters at 37% this weekend per Screen Engine/Rentrak’s PostTrak).

Universal domestic distribution boss Jim Orr said this morning, “Illumination once again provides global audiences with a film that audiences are embracing.  Minions & Monsters debuts atop the domestic box office on this holiday weekend with reaction scores that once again validate the charm, wit and heart of this most incredible franchise.  We look forward to a very long and lucrative run throughout the rest of the summer.”

Deep diving into Minions & Monsters, China led the way with a $16.4M previews/weekend at 30,000 screens in line with Despicable Me 4 and Toy Story 5, and above Minions: The Rise of Gru (which was impacted by Covid). The Pierre Coffin directed movie led over local comedy Keep Real by a healthy margin. Saturday, the pic was No. 1 with $6.4M on Saturday with 27% of showtimes across the market. 

Germany grossed $6.4M from 1,632 screens this weekend, the No. 1 pic in the market with a 35% share. Saturday’s result is in line with Minions: The Rise of Gru. The UK & Ireland opened to $5.9M across 2,500 screens. Mexico bowed to $5.6M across 2,800 screens this weekend, ranking No. 2 in the market with a strong 35% share of total box office. Spain bowed to $4.3M at 755 screens ranking No.1 with a 38% market share, +66% above Toy Story 5 yesterday. Italy was a clear No.1 bow with 50% of the total market, grossing $3.2M across 800 screens. Poland grossed $3.3M a definite No.1 across 360 screens. The opening excluding previews is in line with DM4, above Toy Story 5, below Minions: The Rise of Gru. Vietnam was also No. 1 with $2.5M, the biggest MPA opening of the year having also achieved the highest preview gross of all-time for an animation. It’s the third-biggest animated opening of all-time in the country. The opening excluding previews which are 3x more than Toy Story 5. The Netherlands opened to $1.8M at No.1 from 171 screens, including a strong preview campaign from last weekend. Excluding previews, this is above Toy Story 5. Brazil bowed to $1.7M across 1,675 screens this weekend, ranking No. 2 in the market with a strong 26% of the Top 5 films. Major cities have not begun school holidays, with São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the top two cities, starting in the coming days. As far as holdovers go, Australia minted $2.7M, +17% from last week’s opening and the only title in the market to see an uplift. Minions & Monsters ranked No.2 in the market with 24% of total box office for the weekend. France grossed $2.6M in Wknd 2 at No. 2, reaching $9.8M cume. Minions & Monsters accounted for 20% of total admissions for the weekend. School holidays begin on Monday.

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 was a clear No. 2 at the worldwide weekend B.O. with a $100M third global weekend ($69.3M from 50 territories, $31M from North America) galloping Jessie’s movie to $764.3M at the global box office ($398M int’l, $366.3M domestic). The Andrew Stanton directed title opened to No. 1 in Japan this weekend, with an estimated $14.6M, which is the highest MPA opening weekend of all-time. The pic remains the No. 1 non-local movie for the weekend in France, UK ($50.3M cume), Australia ($19.3M), Korea ($14.8M), Brazil and Mexico ($59M cume) as well as Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Southern Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Philippines and all smaller Latin American territories.

Kara Zor-El made it past the $100M global figure, which ain’t enough for this $170M-$186M production before P&A. Supergirl‘s second worldwide weekend was dismal at $19M, a -70% fall from the sky after its first frame ($9.6M from the U.S., a-74% freefall, $9.4M abroad). Top territories are UK ($6M), Mexico ($4.1M), Australia ($3.1M), Japan ($2M), Brazil ($1.9M), France ($1.7M), Spain ($1.3M), Germany ($1.3M), Italy ($1.2M), China ($1.1M), UAE ($1M), and Colombia ($1M).

Universal’s Obsession hasn’t broken up yet with foreign audiences with a $17.4M global eighth weekend ($5.3M domestic, $12M from both Uni and non-Uni countries, in total 75) and running worldwide total of $403M. Hong Kong opened to $400K, No. 3 in the territory. Excluding previews this is in line with The Substance, above Weapons, Longlegs, Smile, and more than double Sinners. Germany was a strong holdover with $2.4M, the only pic enjoying a lift in the market (+40%), No. 2 behind Minions & Monsters. The cume of $5.8M is ahead of the lifetimes of Weapons, Get Out, as we told you last week, it’s also ahead of Sinners and Black Phone. Spain did a second frame of $1.1M, No. 3 and a near $4M cume ahead of the lifetimes of Longlegs, Black Phone, with a performance in line with Weapons and Nosferatu.

Uni’s Disclosure Day is $12.1M worldwide ($6M domestic, $6.1M overseas at 81 territories) in weekend four with a running global of $216.6M ($111M int’l, $105.3M). Mexico, France and UK grossed $700K a piece. UK is the top grossing offshore territory for the Steven Spielberg alien title with a near $16M, Mexico is $10.4M, and France is the third highest grossing with $9.2M. As a reminder, Japan goes Oct. 1. The sci-fi pic is $19.3M from taking over the reported global cume of Spielberg’s A.I. ($235.9M).

FRIDAY AM: Illumination/Universal’s Minions & Monsters has already scared up $62.6M at the global box office after two days of release in the U.S. and additional territories going Wednesday.

ON Thursday, Minions & Monsters grossed $10.8M in U.S. and Canada, following its Wednesday opening (sans previews) with $14.23M and an A- CinemaScore. The domestic running cume is now $25M. Among all Wednesday openings for an animated pic in July, Minions & Monsters ranked third behind Despicable Me 2 ($35M) and Despicable Me 4 ($27.2M).

That Wednesday-to-Thursday ease in North America of 24% for the pic is on par with Despicable Me 4‘s Wednesday-to-Thursday dip of 25%.

Business should spike further today given that most of the nation is off for the July 4 holiday, however, it’s bound to ease tomorrow due to the distraction of festivities.  

Toy Story 5 was No. 2 yesterday with $8M, Supergirl No. 3 with $2.3M, Obsession No. 4 with $1.6M, and Disclosure Day No. 5 with $1.3M.

Here’s the top 6 pics at the weekly box office in North America:

The running overseas box office through Thursday is $37.6M. On Wednesday, the little guys raided Germany, Italy, UK, Brazil, Spain and Mexico. They were No. 1 in Germany, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands. China also went today where the seventh Despicable Me/Minions universe movie is leading the day with an estimated $4.6M ahead of local superhero dramedy Keep Real from director Wenxiong Xing which has $2.9M. The overall foreign territory count for Minions & Monsters is expected to reach 71 this weekend after the Pierre Coffin directed and voiced pic began its overseas rollout in ten territories last weekend with $10M+ including France, Belgium, Australia and Netherlands.

Minions & Monsters cost $85M before P&A.

Social media reach according to RelishMix for Minions & Monsters before opening was 793M across TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook and Instagram, which is 31% ahead of family animated pic comps. That’s higher than 2022’s Minions: Rise of Gru social media universe which clocked 668.4M and higher than Toy Story 5‘s 711.8M. Those voiceover castmembers active on social include Zoey Deutch at 3M fans, Jeff Bridges at 2.4M and Bobby Moynihan at 248K.

In the U.S., the Angel Studios and Wonder Project historical drama Young Washington from director Jon Erwin opens today in 2,700 theaters.