Minions & Monsters edges Toy Story 5 at July Fourth box office
Minions & Monsters led the July Fourth frame with $36.4 million, but Toy Story 5 still kept $31 million and turned the holiday into a test of brand power.
Minions & Monsters opened at the top of the July Fourth holiday box office with an estimated $36.4 million in North America, narrowly beating Toy Story 5’s $31 million and turning the long weekend into a direct measure of franchise staying power. The seventh film in the Despicable Me series took in an estimated $61.4 million in its first five days after opening on Wednesday, July 1, and reached about $160 million worldwide in its debut week. Set in 1920s Hollywood, the film showed that the Minions brand still travels, even as the margin over Pixar’s latest sequel stayed thin.
Toy Story 5 remained a force of its own, especially for a film already 17 days into release. By Sunday, July 5, it had reached about $366.3 million domestically, a total that underscored how strongly established family titles can hold even when a new competitor arrives for a holiday surge. The result left Disney-Pixar with a sturdy holdover and Illumination with a fresh win, but it also showed that neither studio could count on an easy holiday crowd.
Third place went to Young Washington, which drew nearly $21 million as audiences responded to a release timed for the patriotic mood of the United States’ 250th birthday celebrations. The film focuses on George Washington’s service during the French and Indian War and stars Kelsey Grammer, Andy Serkis and Ben Kingsley, giving the holiday frame a historical counterweight to the animated tentpoles above it.
Supergirl fell to fourth with just under $10 million, a 74% drop from its opening weekend, and its domestic total reached about $58.5 million by July 5 after a June 26 release. The weekend box office overall was down about 24% from the same period last year, even though the summer box office remained up nearly 12% from 2025. Box Office Mojo’s domestic year-to-date tally, through July 3, showed 2026 ahead of 2025 by 13.8%, a sign that theatrical moviegoing is still healthy enough to support multiple hits, but selective enough to punish weaker launches.
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