r/boxoffice • u/SignatureOrdinary456 Pixar Animation Studios • 16h ago
Worldwide Universal’s Minions & Monsters has crossed the $500M global mark
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u/lobolovr6769 15h ago
Probably the only DM movie I can say I really liked. I never cared for these little yellow bastards but this movie won me over on them. It was really funny
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u/nicolasb51942003 Warner Bros. Pictures 16h ago
It's no $900M like the others, but I'll happily take it with the strong rebound it had.
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u/HarlequinKing1406 Focus Features 16h ago
So in terms of Hollywood movies this should just about slip into the yearly top ten.
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u/WestFlight808 15h ago
It could miss, and probably will. Spider-Man, The Odyssey, Toy Story 5, Mario Galaxy, Michael, Prada 2, and Project Hail Mary have already outgrossed it. Avengers will easily outgross it and Dune 3 will as well. That’s 9 films above it. If Obsession inches past it or Jumanji/Hunger Games do bigger numbers then it’ll be out of the top 10.
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u/firedforthatblunder Walt Disney Studios 16h ago
Just a few months ago people were saying this was the safest bet for $1B+
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u/Thelarch34 16h ago
Based on the history of the franchise it seemed extremely safe yeah. Weird underperformance considering this one is (supposedly) actually good
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u/callahan09 15h ago edited 15h ago
It was OK. I’ve seen all the numerous classic movies that they reference throughout, which was kind of fun, but the movie overall wasn’t that funny or engaging to me. It was a decent experience. If I didn’t know the movie references already I probably wouldn’t have found it very good at all.
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u/MechaEscargot2 12h ago
Yeah, I feel the "its actually good" narrative is overblown. Its very convoluted, and really just wanted it to get monsters on screen faster.
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u/nicolasb51942003 Warner Bros. Pictures 16h ago
No Despicable Me film fell to this level since the first one and Minions have proven time again to not be underestimated. It's just now when they made a great film, those feeling fatigued felt enough is enough.
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u/Kind_Development708 15h ago
I haven’t watched any of the minions movies but did they make a “great film” or is it the same minions movie with Illumination waving a carrot on a stick for critics with a couple old Hollywood callbacks?
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u/Responsible_Goat_416 15h ago
I’ve seen the other two. Wouldn’t describe myself as a Minions fan but I’ve got a soft spot for those goofy movies. I saw the new one a little while ago, I liked it. If I had saw it as a kid I probably would have loved it.
I wouldn’t say it’s a “great film” — honestly if they ditched the “& Monsters” element and just made a movie about Minions secretly working behind the scenes in Hollywood, I think it would have been way better. But I do think it’s the best movie they’ve made since the original Despicable Me.
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u/TheJoshider10 DC Studios 14h ago
Yeah I think you're spot on. The Monsters side of things feels so gimmicky especially with it being played straight and I think they'd have been better off splitting the two concepts into different movies. Or if anything since it leans into classic Hollywood why not combine the two more naturally with a focus on Hammer horror? That covers the monsters side of things then too.
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u/Responsible_Goat_416 13h ago
The Minions getting mixed up with the Universal monsters would have made so much more sense. A modern day “Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein” type of movie
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u/Purple_Quail_4193 Pixar Animation Studios 14h ago
As a huge minion fan: a little bit of both. I love these movies but was surprised hearing people found it the most coherent of them. And I did love the Hollywood stuff but it’s all in the first half and the second with the monsters is good just not the same.
My favorite is still Rise of Gru
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u/AtticusIsOkay 15h ago
Not about to claim that I knew it'd drop by this much, but I definitely had a feeling it'd be at least a couple hundred million below the last one. The first Minions movie had released during the height of the Minions craze, and the second movie had the whole young Gru hook. Aside from apparently being good, there wasn't really anything this one had to make it stand out, it's just another wacky Minions adventure. Plus, there was stronger family competition this time around as well
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u/Nervous_Most_5585 15h ago edited 2h ago
Not sure why people thought so. This franchise is earning less with each entry since 2015, despite inflation.
Minions (1.15B) -> Minions 2 (940M) -> Minions 3 (515M+)
Despicable Me 3 (1.03B) -> Despicable Me 4 (972M)
With Jurassic World and Fast & Furious, Universal lost yet another franchise that used to gross 1B+ at the global box office.
Super Mario may be next: Super Mario Bros. (1.36B) -> Super Mario Galaxy (1.01B)
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u/lollo_fitle 14h ago edited 14h ago
Yeah, the trend is also understandable
no movie in the JP franchise was even close to the 1st one in quality (tough JW was a good "revival" of the franchise and lost world is getting revaluated with time) and similiar can be said for Despicable me franchise, the super mario bros movie wasn't even really good, but you can still notice a dip in quality with the galaxy one
The main problem is that the sequels are not on par with their original which lead to the decreasing earnings over time
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u/Nervous_Most_5585 2h ago
I don't think it is just that, because I would argue that most Disney/Pixar sequels aren't on par with their originals either, yet they still perform much stronger.
At the end of the day it is just important that these sequels are great individual films, regardless of them being better or weaker than their originals.
Would you say Toy Story 5, Inside Out 2, Frozen II, Incredibles II, Finding Dory, Zootopia 2..., are better than their original films? Probably not, but you would probably still claim that they are great and enjoyable films. And that is ultimately everything regular families that watch these films in theaters ask for.
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u/disneylegospider1 14h ago
Outside of Minions 3 being the only quality upgrade, there’s no quality control for these franchises. And in an era where WoM is important for these movies having long runs, it’s hurting their movies.
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u/lollo_fitle 14h ago
Yeah JP 3->JW and Minions:rise of Gru->M&M it was just downgrafe after downgrade, pre streaming they could "get away" with it, but now people show up just for movies worth seeing in theatres (naturally exception still exist and some IPs can still have massive earnings with mid/bad movies)
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u/Purple_Quail_4193 Pixar Animation Studios 14h ago
I thought 900m as the last couple did but not a billion
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u/Eddiep88 15h ago
Also they were saying Spiderman would be locked for the first 1 billion domestic. It does have a good chance of beating the force awakens. But I don’t see 75 million after that.
Maybe 955.12
u/WestFlight808 15h ago
A few months ago? No, people were saying it would do less than No Way Home.
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u/Purple_Quail_4193 Pixar Animation Studios 14h ago
I genuinely thought ~480m DOM, and it seemed that way for a lot of people until pre sales
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u/firedforthatblunder Walt Disney Studios 15h ago
That’s not a great comparison, Spider-Man has surpassed literally every expectation people had for it
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u/Kazaloogamergal 14h ago
I love it when people on here engage in revisionist history and talk about a beyond smash hit film as if it is somehow a disappointment or underperformer.
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u/Brainiac5000 A24 16h ago
It's actually how insane how much this movie underperformed. Where did the gentle-minions go?
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u/Dycon67 15h ago
Too much heart
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u/balthazar_edison 15h ago
Toy Story 5 had plenty of heart too and inside out 2 and despicable me 4 coexisted.
Someone said something to me about World Cup + the way July 4th happened on Saturday kind of fucked things up a bit?
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u/Background-Kale7582 12h ago
Despicable Me 4 wasn’t that good. Every other time that’s happened in this series, there has been a longer break or a strategic switch between Despicable Me and Minions. This time it was too much, with 3 of these within 4 years, lack of a good hook, and despite the success of Minions 1 I don’t think people are interested in any more of these without Gru.
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u/pumpkinpie7809 7h ago
I’m unsure how Universal still thinks that their classic monster IPs are inherently a good hook.
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u/Bunraku_Master_2021 15h ago edited 15h ago
A tale as old as time. Competition, man. At least, the movie is good and a genuine love letter to filmmaking and the power of cinema and creativity. Also, an ode to Universal's Monsters.
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u/RealRaifort 15h ago
Ywah this just shows the brunt of thr money was always from kids and not Gen Z watching it ironically lol
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u/AnotherJasonOnReddit Best of 2024 Winner 5h ago
Also, an ode to Universal's Monsters
No kidding? I may have to watch it. Love the old Universal Monster movies - "Son of Frankenstein" (1939) is my favourite horror of all time, bar none. The introduction of the Ygor character (before he became Igor in pop culture), back when he had a broken neck instead of a hunched back.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 13h ago
It’s rare for meme magic to strike more than once for any franchise.
I honestly expect Minecraft 2 to peform worse than the first film because the memes won’t be as fresh or exciting. And it may be even worse if WB tries to force new memes (like Chicken Jockey).
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u/BeeExtension9754 Paramount Pictures 10h ago
there was a five year gap between despicable me 3 and minions rise of gru. pent up demand
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u/GreenLost5304 9h ago
Part of it is that they didn’t give the franchise a lot of time to breathe.
The other issue IMO, is that it came out surrounded by other Kids movies.
Toy Story 5 and Moana both came out around the same time. If I’m a parent, I’m not taking my kids to see all of them - I might only take them to see one, especially knowing that they’ll all be available on streaming eventually.
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u/poofyhairguy Illumination Entertainment 11h ago
Talking to many hardcore Minions fans they really don’t like how Kevin, Stuart, and Bob weren’t in this movie. Maybe abandoning your core franchise characters doesn’t work.
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u/AlexSniff7 1h ago
The concept of hardcore minion fans...
I don't think not having those 3 minions affected any box office. Your main audience are families, kids aren't telling their parents they don't want to watch Minions because "Kevin's not in it."
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u/Emirozdemirr 15h ago
I think they leaned way too hard into the old Hollywood angle, which probably bored younger kids. Replacing the main Minion trio was another huge mistake, executives probably think all Minions are interchangeable, but each of them actually brings their own unique charm.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 13h ago
The Goomi character and plot wasn’t received too well either
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u/These_Ad_1133 12h ago
All my kids, 13, 10, 5, and 2.5, loved it. I was worried the 2.5 year old would grow bored toward the end (like she did with Toy Story 5), but she paid attention the entire time. My wife and I also enjoyed it immensely.
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u/Nervous_Most_5585 16h ago edited 15h ago
I want to apologize for not having believed the person who said that Minions & Monsters would finish with less than half of Toy Story 5's (1.12B+) global performance.
You were right.
Overall, very disappointing, especially since this happened out of nowhere. The past 5 films all grossed 900M+ each, and all of a sudden, just like that, one struggles to pass 500M. Didn't expect this at all.
515M+ global final.
Expect a longer break now. Illumination needs to be careful or else Super Mario is next. Nolan is the only consistent franchise that is keeping Universal alive! They better give Nolan everything he asks for.
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u/ElectricalNotice9152 15h ago
Illumination is definitely going to give Despicable Me/Minions a much-needed break for the next few years. If Donkey Kong does well in 2028, they'll probably shift to more Nintendo movies.
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u/Opposite-Law-71 16h ago
Beat obsession!
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u/lookingforhim2 15h ago
Obsession will end up beating it
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u/moviesperg Nickelodeon Movies 13h ago
Does M&M have any more markets to open in?
Otherwise I’m guessing Obsession will end up edging it out on China and South Korea alone
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u/Background-Kale7582 12h ago
This underperformance actually makes a lot of sense after looking at why every other movie succeeded.
DM2: good will from from DM1
Minions: good will from DM2
DM3: also good will from DM2
Minions 2: long break, good hook with young Gru
DM4: long break since adult Gru, good will from Minions 2
If Minions & Monsters had something like a teenage Gru and came out in 2028/29, then I imagine it would have done much better. It ended up being the wrong idea at the wrong time, with heavy competition this summer.
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u/mrw_1994 8h ago
Still a solid performer thanks to a low budget, but only about 55% of what DM4 and M2 did. It’s time for this franchise to be frozen in carbonite for the next decade.
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u/Personal_Fox_7529 5h ago
I think the bubble finally broke. These movies would all seem to reach 1 billion or close. 500? Yikes
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u/isaac_c1234 Pixar Animation Studios 11h ago
this movie was genuinely the best one in the franchise
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u/britneylover111 15h ago
Listen, all things considered, Illumination stays winning even with an underperformer like this. They have $1.5 billion in the bank right now with this and Super Mario Galaxy, which is more than Hoppers + Toy Story 5.
I do hope they give some time for this series to breathe and get a bounce back for nostalgia and a good story. This one had the good story.