"Despicable Me: Minions & Monsters" leads before summer's wave hits

Introduction: a Wednesday that has all of French cinema smiling

A pleasantly surprising opening

"Minions & Monsters", the new animated installment from Universal Pictures directed by Pierre Coffin, took the top spot at the French box office as soon as it opened on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. The film drew 173,392 admissions on its opening day, a figure confirming the lasting strength of the franchise carried by the most famous yellow characters in world cinema.

This total represents the 4th-best opening of the year according to Satellifacts, and the 2nd-best launch for an animated film in France in 2026, a result that immediately places the film among the most profitable releases of the young summer season.

A very favorable full week

Over the full week of June 24 to July 1, 2026, the film held its dominant position at the top of the weekly French box office rankings, confirming that opening-day enthusiasm didn't fade in the following days. Le Film Français, a reference source for this data, notes that it was the best opening of the week, across all releases.

This performance comes as overall theater attendance was already sharply up, driven by a combination of circumstantial factors that benefited the entire French film industry during this pivotal late-June period.

The numbers that put the film in context

A direct comparison with Toy Story 5

The new Minions installment outpaced Toy Story 5, released a week earlier, which had totaled 167,700 admissions on its own launch day. This direct comparison between two heavyweights of family animation shows that "Minions & Monsters" managed to assert itself against competition already well established in French theaters.

This kind of showdown between popular animated franchises has become a classic indicator for gauging the sector's vitality, and the result here clearly tips in favor of the newcomer, carried by considerable brand recognition among young audiences and families.

Far behind the year's true champion

The film nonetheless remains well behind the true champion of the year, Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie, which drew more than 315,079 viewers on its opening day alone, before surpassing 5 million admissions over its full run. This gap illustrates the current hierarchy of the French animated box office.

This difference in scale takes nothing away from the Minions' performance, but it places the result in a realistic perspective: a very good opening, without rivaling the cultural phenomenon that the Nintendo video game adaptation represented earlier in the year.

The weight of the franchise's history

Far more spectacular historical debuts

This figure needs to be placed within the saga's history: the very first spin-off installment, released in 2015, drew 596,291 admissions on its first day excluding previews, a score nearly 3.4 times higher than the new film's. The second installment, "Minions: The Rise of Gru," released in 2022, totaled 510,325 admissions on its theatrical launch.

This downward trend fits into a broader pattern seen across many aging animated franchises, facing a gradual fatigue effect among audiences after several successive releases within the same decade.

A realistic final total rather than a triumph

The projections cited by Les Inrocks point to at least 2 million admissions for the film's full theatrical run, a decent total but far below the 6.6 million racked up by the first installment and the nearly 4 million achieved by the second. The film thus confirms a structural slowdown for the franchise rather than a new peak.

This downward trajectory isn't necessarily a negative signal for Universal: it simply reflects the maturity of a franchise that already reached its widest audience during its earliest installments, a common pattern in the animation industry.

The circumstantial factors that boosted attendance

An unexpected heat wave lending theaters a hand

The film's performance is partly explained by a factor external to the movie itself: a heat wave hit France during this period, pushing many families to seek the coolness of air-conditioned theaters rather than outdoor activities. This dynamic benefited national theater attendance as a whole during the week of June 17 to 23, with ticket sales up 50% compared to the same period the previous year.

This kind of correlation between summer weather and theater attendance is well documented by industry analysts, who regularly observe attendance spikes during heat waves, particularly for family films suited to children on school vacation.

The Fête du Cinéma as an additional booster

Adding to this weather factor was the Fête du Cinéma, held from June 28 to July 1, 2026, a period during which discounted tickets traditionally encourage a wider audience to go to the movies more often. This combination of events clearly worked in the film's favor in keeping it atop the rankings through its first full week.

Without these favorable circumstances, it's plausible the film's score would have been more modest, which calls for a cautious reading of the raw figures without placing them in their precise circumstantial context.

What the number of prints and per-screen average reveal

A wide but not oversized release

The film opened on 731 prints on its first day, a substantial number of screens that nonetheless remains below what the biggest Hollywood productions typically get for their French release. This measured rollout reflects a distribution strategy calibrated for a film recognized as a likely success, without aiming for the maximum exposure reserved for the year's very biggest blockbusters.

The per-print average came in at 237 admissions, a solid figure confirming that audience demand was genuinely real and not simply the result of an artificially wide release across the country.

A signal of distributor confidence

This level of per-screen average indicates that Universal Pictures France correctly anticipated audience appetite for this new installment, without overestimating demand to the point of diluting attendance across too many screens. This balance between the number of prints and actual turnout is often seen by industry professionals as a sign of sound commercial management.

This rigor in calibrating the release contrasts with some more aggressive strategies seen at other studios, which sometimes bet on maximum immediate exposure, even if the per-print average quickly collapses after the first weekend.

The busy summer calendar ahead

Competition already in place before the big blockbusters arrive

This animated film's success comes just before the expected arrival of several major summer productions in French theaters, a period traditionally decisive for the entire film industry. Theater operators are closely watching these first weeks of July to gauge the overall attendance trend ahead of the summer peak.

The simultaneous presence of several family films, including Toy Story 5 released the previous week, illustrates a particularly dense lineup for families during this school-vacation period, forcing every distributor to fine-tune its release strategy to maximize its share of the pie.

A test for the vitality of French theaters

This pileup of family releases could just as easily benefit the sector as a whole, by drawing more moviegoers into theaters, as it could fragment the available audience among several competing films in a similar window. The coming weeks will tell whether this abundance of choice stimulates or dilutes overall attendance.

The French box office is thus entering a crucial test phase, where the relative success or failure of each summer release will provide valuable insight into post-pandemic moviegoing habits, in an economic context where households are being more cautious in their leisure spending.

What this success says about the French family audience

A loyalty that hasn't fully faded

Despite the gradual decline in scores compared to the earlier installments, the French family audience keeps showing up for this franchise, proof that a well-established entertainment brand retains real commercial value even after several successive installments spanning nearly a decade.

This loyalty, though less spectacular than at the outset, remains a valuable asset for Universal and for the entire family animation ecosystem, a particularly profitable segment for theaters during school vacation periods.

A lesson for the animation industry

This result confirms that familiar, instantly recognizable characters remain a powerful commercial engine, even in an entertainment market increasingly fragmented by the proliferation of streaming platforms and competing content available at home.

For animation studios, this kind of performance is a reminder of the importance of building lasting franchises rather than betting solely on original concepts, whose success is by nature more uncertain and harder to predict commercially.

What critics think of this animated sequel

A lukewarm but not hostile critical reception

The trade press gave the film a generally lukewarm reception, without tearing it apart. Several critics point to a predictable plot, built above all to satisfy a young audience already won over to the Minions cause, rather than to deeply refresh the franchise's original formula.

This moderate critical reception nonetheless didn't stop audiences from showing up in theaters, once again confirming that a family film's commercial success doesn't necessarily depend on the enthusiasm of professional critics.

Unapologetic entertainment rather than an ambitious work

Defenders of the film emphasize its stated goal: to deliver effective family entertainment rather than an ambitious animated work in the artistic sense of the term. This pragmatic approach seems to have convinced enough families to justify a solid commercial launch.

This tension between artistic ambition and commercial effectiveness regularly runs through debates around major animation franchises, without either side ever truly settling the argument once and for all.

Conclusion: a good start, no miracle, in a promising summer

An honest result, taken at face value

"Minions & Monsters" delivers a solid opening, without rivaling the historic peaks of its own franchise or the "Super Mario Galaxy" phenomenon dominating 2026. It's a measured success, carried by a favorable alignment of weather and event-driven circumstances as much as by the enduring popularity of its characters.

A summer of cinema shaping up to be closely fought

The coming weeks will be decisive in judging whether this start of summer confirms a lasting rebound in theater attendance, or whether this performance will remain an isolated peak in a calendar otherwise crowded with direct competitors for the attention of the French family audience.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

Who I am and my acknowledged biases

I sign my pieces as Maxime Marquette, columnist for MadMax. I have no professional ties to Universal Pictures, its partner studios, or the theater operators cited in this piece. My interest in the box office is that of a general-public observer, not a financial expert in cinema.

This analysis relies exclusively on figures published by recognized specialized industry sources, without access to internal studio or distributor data.

What I don't know, and my method

I cannot guarantee the final total admissions the film will achieve over its full run, as the projections cited remain estimates based on trends observed to date. My method consists of cross-referencing several specialized French box-office sources to verify the consistency of the figures cited.

Sources

Primary sources

French box office: this week's results — AlloCiné

French box-office calendar, week of July 1, 2026 — Box Office Mojo

French box office, day 1: "Minions & Monsters" posts the 4th-best opening of the year — Satellifacts, June 25, 2026

Secondary sources

A smash hit for Minions & Monsters from its very first day — Le Figaro, June 26, 2026

"Minions & Monsters": a truly stellar opening in France — Les Inrocks, June 26, 2026

Box office: Minions & Monsters lift Universal and Illumination — Box Office Pro