International markets boost ‘Minions & Monsters’ to chart-topping $121m weekend at global box office; ‘Toy Story 5’ stays strong, passes $750m

Worldwide box office: July 3-5

Credit: Rentrak. All figures are estimates

‘Minions & Monsters’ sees franchise dip

Universal/Illumination’s Minions & Monsters has topped the worldwide box office in its first weekend of global play, delivering an estimated five-day $61.4m in North America over the July 4 holiday weekend plus $85.0m across 71 international markets.

Including box office accrued the previous week across 10 international markets, the total for the family animation has reached $159.9m.

While those numbers sound robust, this is behind the pace of previous Minions films.

Almost exactly four years ago, Minions: The Rise Of Gru opened with $107.0m in North America (and a four-day $123.1m including Monday’s July 4 holiday), and $87.2m from 72 international territories. Cumulative total including a week of early release in Australia stood at $200.7m after the first weekend of wide global play.

The first Minions film rolled out more gradually in 2015, so comparisons are hard to frame, but it launched with $115.7m in North America – almost double the five-day opening for Minions & Monsters.

Four years ago, the top opening international markets for Minions: The Rise Of Gru were UK/Ireland and Mexico, and release in China was not achieved until more than a month after the initial wave of markets.

This time around, China leads the international pack with an estimated $16.1m – topping the box office in the populous territory ahead of local comedy Keep Real.

Germany comes second with an estimated $6.4m, followed by Mexico and UK/Ireland with $5.9m and $5.6m respectively. Those numbers are around half the opening salvo of The Rise Of Gru in Mexico and UK/Ireland.

The FIFA World Cup may have been impactful in co-host nation Mexico where the kickoff time for Sunday’s match against England was scheduled at 6pm. School holidays begin this coming week in Mexico, and in two weeks’ time for state schools in England.

In cumulative, China leads international markets with the afore-mentioned $16.4m opening, ahead of holdover territories France and Australia – respectively $9.8m and $6.8m after two weekends of play.

South Korea and Japan are the two key markets yet to open, welcoming this third Minions film respectively on July 15 and August 6.

Minions & Monsters is chasing the $1.16bn worldwide gross achieved by Minions and the $940.5 reached by Minions: The Rise Of Gru. More recently – in summer 2024 – Despicable Me 4 grossed $972m.

‘Toy Story 5’ offers formidable competition

If Minions & Monsters ends up under-achieving at the worldwide box office, the big question for analysts will be: did the competition with Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 end up cannibalising audiences?

(Or perhaps the frequency of films in the Despicable Me/Minions universe – there have been seven since 2010 – has over-served the market.)

Toy Story 5 grossed an estimated $100.3m worldwide on its third weekend of play: $31.0m in North America and $69.3m for international. Pixar’s film is more adult-skewing than Illumination’s, since audiences have grown up with the franchise since 1995’s Toy Story.

Toy Story 5 has reached a beefy $764.3m after three weekends of play, with international ($398.0m) pulling ahead of domestic North America ($366.3m).

The toy adventure fell 56% in North America and 41% across international holdover markets – a decent outcome given the challenge of Minions & Monsters.

Toy Story 5 opened in a major new market at the weekend, Japan, launching with an estimated $14.6m.

Mexico ($59.3m so far) and UK/Ireland ($50.3m) lead the international pack, with China ($37.0m) in third place, then France ($20.7m) and Australia ($19.3m).

Toy Story 5 has already passed the lifetime totals of the first two films in the series. To match the subsequent pair, it will need to sustain into the summer holiday period. Toy Story 3 reached $1.07bn globally in 2010, with 2019’s Toy Story 4 just ahead with $1.08bn. These numbers are not adjusted for inflation.

Both Minions & Monsters and Toy Story 5 now face fresh competition from another big family-skewed title coming into the market: Disney’s live-action Moana, which lands this coming week.

‘Young Washington’ leads chasing pack, as ‘Obsession’ hits $400m total

Warner Bros will be looking to the positives in the latest numbers for DC Studios’ Supergirl – the film passed $100m worldwide at the weekend, and it could be worse.

But being beaten at the worldwide box office in its second weekend of play by Angel Studios’ Young Washington, launching into a single market (North America), may sting.

Supergirl grossed an estimated $19.0m for its second session – roughly evenly split between domestic and foreign – dropping a steep 74% in North America and 63% across international markets.

In cumulative, North America ($58.5m) leads international ($42.0m), yielding a $100.5m global total.

Top international markets are UK/Ireland ($6.0m), Mexico ($4.1m), Australia ($3.1m), Japan ($2.0m) and Brazil ($1.9m).

Young Washington, released in North America to coincide with 250 years of the Declaration of Independence, has yet to begin its international rollout. It’s reasonable to assume there will be a domestic skew for this title.

Behind Supergirl in Rentrak’s worldwide weekend chart are the duelling creator horrors Obsession and Backrooms, both achieving strong holds yet again. Obsession dipped only 7% in Universal Pictures International markets and 11% in non-UPI markets, and has now reached $403.1m worldwide. A24’s Backrooms is at $356.0m.

Rounding out the top 10 weekend chart (see above) are Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day ($12.2m weekend/ $216.6m total), Chinese comedy Keep Real ($10.4m opening), Chinese war film Crossing ($6.2m weekend/ $27.4m total) and Indian female-led action thriller Alpha ($6.1m opening).

Keep Real is the second feature directed by China’s Xing Wenxiong, following 2022’s Too Cool To Kill.

Xu Zhanxiong’s Crossing tells the story of the 1935 Battle of Chishui River between China and the Soviet Union. The battle was part of the Long March campaign by Mao Zedong’s Red Army.

Shiv Rawail’s Alpha stars Alia Bhatt and Sharvari as long-separated twin sisters, and is the seventh instalment in Yash Raj Films’ Spy Universe, following the likes of Ek Tha Tiger (2012), War (2019) and Pathaan (2023).

• ‘Minions & Monsters’ scores franchise-low US box office debut; ‘Young Washington’ soars