Minions & Monsters Box Office: How Much It Needs To Beat The First Despicable Me’s Theatrical Profit

Here’s what Minions & Monsters would need to earn worldwide to surpass the theatrical profit of the first Despicable Me film.

- June 9, 2026 | 4:53 PM IST

Minions & Monsters Worldwide Box Office ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Minions and Monsters, the seventh installment in the blockbuster Despicable Me franchise, is all set to hit U.S. theaters on July 1, 2026. Released in 2010, the first Despicable Me movie holds an 80% critics’ score and an 83% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. With a worldwide total of $544.2 million, the animated comedy earned nearly 7.9x its budget and was the 9th-highest-grossing film of 2010, ahead of the first How to Train Your Dragon film’s global haul.

Despicable Me’s critical and commercial success was followed by three sequels and two prequels. So far, the combined worldwide gross of all six films in the Despicable Me franchise is an impressive $5.62 billion. It remains to be seen how Minions and Monsters perform at the box office and whether it can cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office like the two previous installments – Despicable Me 3 (2017) and Minions (2015).

Let’s take a look at how much Minions and Monsters must earn worldwide to beat the theatrical profit of the first film in the franchise. Here are the worldwide earnings (per Box Office Mojo data), budget, break-even (based on the 2.5x multiplier rule), and estimated theatrical profit of the 2010 film, Despicable Me.

Despicable Me (2010) – Box Office Performance

Worldwide Earnings: $544.2 million
Budget: $69 million
Break-Even: $172.5 million
Theatrical Profit: $371.7 million

What These Numbers Mean For Minions and Monsters

Although the official production budget of Minions and Monsters has not been revealed, reports suggest it was made on an $85 million budget. This implies that it would need to earn an estimated $212.5 million to break even at the box office, based on the commonly used 2.5x multiplier rule.

Based on the above figures and calculations, Minions and Monsters would need to earn more than $584.2 million worldwide to surpass the theatrical profit of the first Despicable Me installment.

Considering the franchise’s box-office track record, its per-film worldwide average is around $937 million. If Minions & Monsters earns above the franchise’s average worldwide gross, it will comfortably surpass the $584.2 million mark and beat Despicable Me’s theatrical profit. Having said that, the film’s final box office outcome will become clearer after its theatrical release on July 1.

What Is Minions & Monsters All About?

Directed by franchise veteran Pierre Coffin, the prequel is set against the backdrop of 1920s Hollywood and follows the Minions as they search for frightening creatures to make their monster movie. Later, they must team up to save the planet after unleashing monsters into this world.