Minions & Monsters: Announcement, First Look and Everything We Know

Illumination confirmed its third Minions spin-off in July 2024, and the finished film - a 1920s Hollywood monster-movie caper - lands in UK cinemas on 1 July 2026, a year earlier than originally planned.

The banana army is coming back to British screens, and this time they've traded the 1960s and 70s for the flickering glamour of silent-era Hollywood. Illumination first teased a new Minions chapter in July 2024, shortly after Despicable Me 4's box office success, before the studio moved the release forward when Universal pushed one of its other tentpoles back a year. What eventually landed was Minions & Monsters, a 2026 animated comedy directed by Pierre Coffin, the seventh instalment overall in the Despicable Me franchise.

The setup: the story takes place in 1920s Hollywood, roughly 48 years before the events of the original Minions film, following a tribe of Minions who crash a film set, briefly become sensations, and then get cut loose once sound arrives in cinema and they can't stick to a script. For UK diaspora families, that's a neat hook - the Minions' obsession with old-school moviemaking mirrors the way many South Asian households first bonded over cinema itself, whether that was a scratchy VHS of a Bollywood classic or a Saturday morning at the local multiplex.

Confirmed voice cast includes Pierre Coffin returning as all the Minions, alongside Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr, and returning cast members Trey Parker and Allison Janney. The film has already made a splash internationally, having been chosen as the opening film at the Annecy Festival, animation's biggest showcase.

Quick Facts

• Title: Minions & Monsters

• UK release: 1 July 2026

• Director: Pierre Coffin

• Setting: 1920s Hollywood

• Franchise position: 7th film in the Despicable Me universe

FAQ

Q: Is this a prequel or sequel?

A: A prequel - it's set decades before the first Minions film.

Q: Who's returning from earlier films?

A: Trey Parker and Allison Janney both return with new roles, having voiced characters in Despicable Me 3 and Minions respectively.