The latest installment of Universal’s Illumination Minions series, Minions & Monsters, is scheduled to open on June 21st at this year’s Annecy Animation Film Festival.
Directed by Academy Award nominee Pierre Coffin, co-directed by Patrick Delage, and produced by Illumination and Universal Pictures, the film is the third Minion adventure, a direct sequel to Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), and the seventh in the Despicable Me series that Coffin himself started in 2010 with Disney/Blue Sky alum Chris Renaud.
This new chapter in the series tells the “wild, ridiculous, completely true story” of how the Minions conquer Hollywood, become movie stars, lose everything, unleash monsters on the world, and band together to save the Earth from the chaos they’ve just caused.
A typical Minion day at the office.
Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination, and “Super Mario Bros. Produced by Bill Ryan, executive producer of The Movie, the film was written by Brian Lynch (Minions, The Secret Life of Pets) and features a star-studded voice cast led by Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, and Allison Janney, as well as South Park stars Christoph Waltz, Zoey Deutch, and Bobby Moynihan. Co-creator Trey Parker and Coffin himself, who has voiced the Minions since their first appearance in 2010.
After the first trailer was released at the Super Bowl earlier this year, Universal gave us a big first look at Minions & Monsters at CinemaCon 2026 and is now heading to Annecy.
Sixteen years ago, Pierre Coffin had drinks with Variety magazine ahead of the world premiere of the first Despicable Me movie. “After about an hour, you’ll know if you’re a director or not,” he said. History seems to have answered his question.
Nine days before the public opening of Minions & Monsters, the spin-off of what has become a $5.6 billion franchise to date, opened at Annecy, renewing the deep and respectful relationship between Illumination and the festival that dates back to this very premiere.
The film will be released worldwide on July 1st.
