Friday Box Office Update: Minions & Monsters Underperforms
Illumination/Universal’s Minions & Monsters has kicked off its North American run with a 5-day start of $63.5 million, falling short of the projected $80 million. This is the lowest 3-day and 5-day opening in the Despicable Me/Minions franchise, with the previous low set by the first film in 2010 at $56.3 million not accounting for inflation.
Minions & Monsters is the seventh title in the Despicable Me and Minions $5.6 billion global grossing franchise. The film, directed by Pierre Coffin and produced by Chris Meledandri, follows the early days of Gru’s little henchman in the 1920s heyday of Hollywood from their rise and fall and rise again as movie stars and defenders of Earth against an alien invasion.
The 3-day opening stands at $38.5 million at 4,243 theaters, making Minions & Monsters easily No. 1. However, this is lower than expected, with some exhibitors forecasting a lower turnout. Friday is looking at $16 million, a 48% increase from Thursday and the highest-grossing domestic day for the sequel so far.
International box office typically delivers 60%-plus for these movies, with two of them crossing a billion dollars in the past. The film cost a net $85 million before global P&A spend. Despite this, overseas will likely take over, with the giggle guys typically rallying abroad.
The domestic $63.5 million opening will clear at least $101 million worldwide when combined with last weekend’s foreign opening from ten territories, which brought in $37.6 million. The running cume for the Andrew Stanton-directed Toy Story 5 is $326.6 million in its second week, with a 3-day of $30 million, a 58% drop from the previous weekend.
Young Washington, a historical biopic starring Andy Serkis, Mary-Louise Parker, Ben Kingsley, Kelsey Grammer, and William Franklyn-Miller as the Father of Our Country, is in third place with an estimated $16 million-$17 million. Supergirl, a Warner Bros/DC Studio film, is in fourth place with a second Friday of $4 million and a second estimated weekend of $10 million, a 73% drop from the first weekend.
