Minions & Monsters

Summarize Fact Check

At a film history museum, tour guide Olivia begins telling her group the story of Minions James and Henry, who, according to her, made a significant impact.

Thousands of years ago, a different tribe of Minions from the one that would go on to serve Gru are on a hunt to serve the world's greatest villains, but in many different ways inadvertently kill their masters. James, more artistic with a passion for painting and drawing, quickly develops a close friendship with two others, Henry and Ed. Among the many masters the Minions serve is a Russian warlock, killed by a monster after Henry summoned it from his spellbook, which Ed then takes along with them.

While fighting amongst each other in the desert, the Minions stumble across a train robbery, deciding to chase after the robber to become his henchmen. However, it is revealed that the robbery is all staged for a Hollywood film production. Though filmmaker Max is furious with the Minions, studio executives Frank and Elwood Bright are enamored by their antics, so Max hires the Minions to star in his films. The Minions soon become a global phenomenon, appearing in several silent films, allowing them to live a life of Hollywood stardom.

When sound film is introduced, the Minions are unable to adapt to the new technology due to their incomprehensible language. Costing the studio millions in failed material, the Minions are fired. Not wanting to give up on his passion, James comes up with an idea to make his own movie titled Minions and Monsters where the Minions would fight against giant creatures. The leader of the tribe, Dick, rejects James' idea and leads the rest of the Minions back towards finding a new evil master, but Henry and Ed break away from them to help James make his film a reality. They pitch it to Max, who encourages James to work on the movie, providing him a film camera. Ed gets the idea to use the warlock's old spellbook to summon a squid monster to use, but they are surprised that the monster is much smaller than expected. The monster, Goomi, agrees with James' idea and offers to help him find the perfect monsters for the film.

Meanwhile, Dick and the other Minions decided to work for a futuristic alien robot named Dort, who is determined to invade Earth. Even when Dort's cracks begin to show, Dick believes that he is the one to lead them. While trying to start his conquest for world domination, Dort ends up falling in love with women's rights activist Debbie, enlisting the Minions' help to romantically pursue her. Goomi leads James, Henry, and Ed to a frozen fortress and frees sea monsters Howard and Phillips under the false pretense of using them as stars in James' movie. In reality, he aims to use them to summon Irene, a large orange multi-eyed blob monster, in order to destroy the world. Henry overhears this and tries to alert James, but Howard and Phillips kidnap him, using him as a sacrifice in the 'scene' where Irene will be summoned. Just as shooting begins, Irene breaks out and begins wreaking havoc.

While on a date in the park with Debbie, Dort and the other Minions witness Irene. Dort seemingly flees in panic, forcing some of the Minions to fight Irene themselves. Irene succeeds in swallowing Henry, with James entering her to rescue him, while the Minions take over from the military in holding her off. At first, they succeed in tearing her apart, but Irene simply reconstructs herself. Just before she consumes them, Dort re-emerges with the other Minions in spacecraft, and they successfully destroy Irene. Henry and James then cast a spell to trap Goomi, Howard, and Phillips in the spellbook. The public hails the Minions as heroes. As Ed had captured the entire battle on film, James' movie premieres months later, receiving a standing ovation from the audience. Olivia finishes her story, revealing that the entire plot, including the tour, is in fact a film within a film, directed by James and Henry.

In the mid-credits, the spellbook falls in the hands of Gru's Minions and is tested by Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and one of Gru's adoptive daughters, Agnes.

• Pierre Coffin as the Minions,^[6] including:
  • James, a short, one-eyed, blue-eyed Minion who loves to make art and develops a passion for filmmaking
  • Henry, an average height, two-eyed and also blue-eyed minion who is James' lifelong best friend
  • Ed, a tall, deaf Minion who communicates using sign language
  • Dick, a tall one-eyed Minion who is the leader of the greater minion tribe
• Allison Janney as Olivia H., a tour guide^[6][1][7]
• Christoph Waltz as Max, a film director who hires the Minions to star in his movies^[6][8]
• Jeff Bridges as Frank and Elwood Bright, twin brothers and the bosses of a film studio^[6][8]
• Jesse Eisenberg as Dort, an alien robot that the Minions see as their potential boss. He is a parody and homage to the character Gort from the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still.^[6][9]
• Trey Parker as Goomi, a small Cthulhu-resembling monster whose full name is short for Gary Orkam Oliver Magma Ichabod the Deceiver^[6][10]
• Zoey Deutch as Debbie, a strong-willed suffragette and Dort's love interest^[6][1]
• Bobby Moynihan as Phillips, a piscine monster freed by Goomi. The character is named in homage to writer H. P. Lovecraft^[6][7]
• Phil LaMarr as Howard, a tentacled monster freed by Goomi. The character is named in homage to writer H. P. Lovecraft^[6][7]

Additionally, George Lucas made a cameo appearance as a fictionalized version of himself.^[11] Gru, Dr. Nefario, and Agnes appear in the film's mid-credits scenes with archive audio of Steve Carrell, Romesh Ranganathan and Madison Polan being utilized. In addition to voicing the film's main Minions, Coffin reprises his roles as Kevin, Stuart, & Bob from the previous two films.^{[citation needed]}

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Development

Minions & Monsters was announced in July 2024, during the release of Despicable Me 4, with Pierre Coffin set to direct and Brian Lynch to write the script.^[12] In addition, Patrick Delage served as a co-director.^[13] The film shares the same title as the 2021 short that aired on NBC on June 11, 2021,^[14] and on the DVD release of Minions: The Rise of Gru on September 6, 2022.^[15] The film carries an estimated $85 million budget.^[16]

Casting

In March 2026, Trey Parker, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr, and Allison Janney were announced to star in the film.^[17][18] Parker had previously voiced Balthazar Bratt in Despicable Me 3 and Janney had voiced Madge Nelson in the first Minions film.^[19] In June 2026, filmmaker George Lucas was revealed to have a role after being approached by producer Chris Meledandri for a potential involvement due to Lucas being an admitted fan of the Despicable Me franchise.^[11]

Music

Main article: Minions & Monsters (soundtrack)

In April 2026, John Powell was announced to be composing the film's score, marking his third collaboration with Illumination following The Lorax (2012) and Migration (2023), as well as the first Despicable Me installment not to be scored by recurring composer Heitor Pereira.^[20] Coffin reached out to Powell, with Powell visiting Illumination's Paris office to meet with Coffin and spot the film. Powell remained in Paris for a week to write the musical cues before presenting them to Coffin, who approved, and by April 2026, Powell recorded the score at the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage within the Sony Pictures Studios lot in California.^[21]

Powell noted that his approach to the score for Minions & Monsters was intentionally "indulgent" and different from how he would score "a serious movie", stating that the music can be described as "[o]verly emotional, overwrought, overplayed, overwritten. Just over. Everything was over."^[21] Several of the film's musical cues recalled the music of Hollywood's Golden Age, referencing scores by composers Carl Stalling (Looney Tunes), Bernard Herrmann (Psycho), Franz Waxman (Bride of Frankenstein) and Max Steiner (King Kong).^[21] Many staff players in his orchestra previously worked on the animated television series Freakazoid! and Animaniacs.^[21]

A Super Bowl promo was aired on February 8, 2026, during the Super Bowl LX. Footage of the film was showcased in April 2026 during CinemaCon.^[8]

Minions & Monsters premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 21, 2026,^[22] and was theatrically released in the United States on July 1 by Universal Pictures. It was originally planned for release on June 30, 2027, but was later moved up to the date previously reserved for DreamWorks Animation's Shrek 5 before that film was postponed.^[12][23] The film debuted on the same opening date as Universal Kids Resort, which includes the Minions-themed land "Minions vs. Minions: Bello Bay Club".^[24]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Box office

As of July 22, 2026^[update], Minions & Monsters has grossed $145.8 million in the United States and Canada and $226.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $372.4 million.^{[4][5][25][26]} It was produced on an $85 million budget.^[5]

In the United States and Canada, Minions & Monsters was initially projected to gross around $80 million from 4,243 theaters over its five-day Independence Day holiday frame. Internationally, projections were around $90 million, for a projected worldwide opening of $170 million.^[27] The film opened to $14.2 million on its first day, $37 million by day three, and $62 million over the 5-day holiday frame, opening #1 at the box office but marking a franchise low-opening.^[28] Compared to Despicable Me 4, the last numbered installment, and the previous spin-off Minions: The Rise of Gru, which both opened to $120 million and $122 million respectively over the same frame, Minions & Monsters was considered to be a "major" disappointment.^[25][26] The poorer-than-usual opening was attributed to America 250 Celebrations driving away ticket sales, competition from Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, and "franchise fatigue" from the Despicable Me series, though some outlets expressed optimism of the film's performance over the coming weeks.^{[28][29][30][31]} In its second weekend, the film grossed $21.2 million, dropping 43%, and finished in second place behind Moana.^[32][33] Minions & Monsters finished in fourth place during its third weekend with a gross of $13.6 million, dropping 36%.^[34][35]

Critical response

Minions & Monsters received positive reviews from critics, with many deeming it the best installment in the franchise since Despicable Me (2010).^{[36][37][38][39]} On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 172 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's consensus reads, "The Minions bring their penchant for mayhem to Hollywood history in this affectionate and charming sendup of moviemaking magic, turning out the franchise's most roundly enjoyable entry yet."^[40] It is currently Illumination's highest-rated film on the website. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[41] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while 58% of those surveyed by PostTrak said they would definitely recommend the film.^[26]

Drew Taylor of TheWrap called the film "a love letter to classic Hollywood" and "builds to an open-hearted tribute to the power of the communal moviegoing experience",^[36] while Guy Lodge of Variety described it as "smarter, wilder and funnier before the monsters enter the equation", is "fully, madly moviosa", and that it was a "mostly delightful" entry.^[1] John Nugent of Empire gave the film three out of five stars, concluding: "It is goofy and giggly and resolutely wedded to stupidity. There's little attempt to add much depth to the story, in the way that Pixar might try to — it is essentially, once again, just a series of contrived opportunities for the little guys to get up to chaotic mischief."^[42]

Clint Worthington, writing for RogerEbert.com, gave Minions & Monsters three and a half out of four stars, stating that despite the less compelling second half of the film, it manages to be "the snappiest, most cohesive, and entertaining entry in this [Minions] series to date", and concluded that the film "feels like Coffin interrogating the Minions' place in the annals of film history. … He argues, and here successfully, that the Minions aren't a scourge of the universal loss of attention span and cultural sophistication. Rather, these little guys are simply the purest and latest distillation of the very impulses that have made cinema one of mankind's most enduring art forms: characters in motion, working hard to entertain, distract, and provide a communal experience for those who enjoy them."^[38] Eric Goldman of IGN gave the film a grade of 8 out of 10, concluding: "Using the Minions to create an ode to early Hollywood that's also an overall love letter to movies themselves and the power of storytelling is a surprising yet welcome turn of events."^[37]