Universal and Illumination’s army of Minions is taking over the box office for Independence Day weekend.
“Minions & Monsters” claimed the No. 1 spot on Friday with $16 million from 4,243 North American theaters. Through the weekend, the animated sequel should gross $39.5 million domestically. In addition to its earnings since its July 1 release, that should push the film’s North American total to a soft $64 million. Luckily for Universal, “Minions & Monsters” is expected to pull in $87 million overseas by Sunday.
The “Despicable Me” franchise has historically been a big ticket earner. The last film in the series, 2024’s “Despicable Me 4,” reached $972 million at the worldwide box office, while the last standalone Minions film, 2022’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” did $940 million worldwide. The yellow henchman’s first solo bout, 2015’s “Minions,” stands as the highest-grossing film in the family at $1.15 billion worldwide.
“Minions & Monsters” sees the titular evil doers become wannabe filmmakers in the 1920s and search for horrifying monsters to include in their creature feature. Cast members include Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr. Coffin also co-directs with Patrick Delage. He also co-wrote the script with Brian Lynch.
Second place went to another family-friendly film, “Toy Story 5,” which added $13 million domestically as it entered its third weekend in theaters. By Sunday, it should earn an estimated $32 million, pushing its North American tally to about $367 million. “Toy Story 4” is the film to beat at just over $1 billion.
Third place went to Angel Studio’s “Young Washington,” which made an estimated $7.4 million on Friday. By Sunday, the wartime adventure film should earn about $16 million. As indicated by the title, “Young Washington” follows a young George Washington as he fights in the Revolutionary War before he became the first president of the United States. William Franklyn-Miller stars in the titular role. Other cast members include Mary-Louise Parker, Leo Hanna, Mia Rodgers, Kelsey Grammer, Andy Serkis and Ben Kingsley.
Fourth place went to Warner Bros. and DC’s “Supergirl,” which earned just $3.6 million domestically on Friday. Rival estimates have the superhero blockbuster making $8.7 million by Sunday, which represents a brutal 76% drop from its disastrous $37.1 million North American opening last weekend. Variety reported last week that “Supergirl” is poised to gross about $200 million globally by the end of its run, which would put the film in the red by about $100 million.
Finally, Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” landed in fifth with $2.2 million on Friday, on its way to around $5.5 million through the weekend. After four weekends of release, the alien thriller should reach a North American tally of $104 million.
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