Los Angeles — Universal is coming off a strong year at the box office, but “Minions & Monsters” did not reach the heights expected of the latest installment in Illumination’s “Despicable Me” franchise.
“The Odyssey” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” each surpassed $1 billion, while “Obsession” emerged as a surprise hit and “Michael” became a global success. Universal’s worldwide box office total for 2026 has also already exceeded $5 billion.
Against that backdrop, “Minions & Monsters” was more modestly successful. The seventh film overall in the French studio’s “Despicable Me” franchise earned $523 million worldwide. That was 44% below the $940 million worldwide haul of 2022’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
The “Despicable Me” and “Minions” franchises have been dependable performers in animation for roughly a decade and a half. Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal, suggested one factor may have been the film’s emphasis on references to Hollywood’s silent-film era. Those elements helped the movie earn what critics described as the best reviews in the series, but may not have connected with the children who make up the franchise’s central audience.
“Perhaps for kids that kind of inside baseball, old Hollywood story was a little over their heads. Perhaps it didn’t appeal to them in quite the same way,” Langley said at Bloomberg Screentime. She also said she was “proud” of the reviews received by the film, directed by Pierre Coffin.
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” received an additional boost from Gen Z moviegoers who transformed the movie into a meme through the “Gentleminions” trend. Young men dressed in suits attended screenings of the animated comedy they had grown up with.
Universal knew it was unlikely to recreate that phenomenon with “Minions & Monsters,” Langley said, but the studio still expected Gen Z audiences to turn out.
“We miscalculated that for sure. It wouldn’t have made a difference as to whether we’d have greenlit the movie or not, but perhaps in terms of our planning, we maybe would have thought a bit differently,” she said.
Langley also pointed to the franchise’s age and the relatively short gap between releases as possible factors. The Minions have now been part of the franchise for 17 years, and Universal moved “Minions & Monsters” forward because of scheduling considerations.
“But I think the sort of easy answer is that we’re quite mature in the franchise. Minions have been around now for 17 years. We didn’t have a long gap in between the films. There was some scheduling, and so we actually moved that one up. So perhaps another year would have helped us create some anticipation,” she said.
Langley was also questioned about the broader difficulties Hollywood has faced with original animated movies. Since the pandemic, only animated sequels and films based on established intellectual property have surpassed $500 million globally.
Universal encountered that challenge again this past weekend with DreamWorks’ “Forgotten Island,” which opened to $13 million domestically against an $80 million budget despite strong critical and audience reception.
Langley said Universal is adjusting its approach to original animation by setting a higher theatrical standard for such projects while accounting for the likelihood that their box office performance will not reach previous levels.
“How we adjust our strategy on [original animation] is that they have to go through a higher bar of theatricality, and the price point has to anticipate that the numbers are just not going to be as high as they once were,” Langley said.
“We have to try and be two head steps ahead of the of the audience taste and where it’s going. Or if we’re not, you know, we have to be very thoughtful and honest with ourselves about why things are not working as well, you know, and shift up the strategy.”
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