Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Minions & Monsters Opens to $14.23M Wednesday, Fourth-Best Animated July Debut Ever
Illumination/Universal’s Minions & Monsters opened to a $14.23 million Wednesday — the fourth-best opening day for an animated July release, trailing only Despicable Me 2, Despicable Me 4, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The seventh film in the franchise earned an A– CinemaScore and a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score, the highest-ever in the 16-year series. Tracking had projected an $80 million five-day domestic total, with international expected to contribute more than 60% of the global tally. The film opened across 69 territories this holiday weekend on a net production budget of $85 million before global P&A spend.
Illumination’s Meledandri Calls Box Office a ‘Misleading Indicator’ as Minions & Monsters Opens
Speaking to Deadline at the Annecy International Film Festival, where Minions & Monsters world-premiered on June 21, Illumination CEO Christopher Meledandri pushed back on box-office fixation. “The box office is almost somewhat of a misleading indicator to really what happens in the world today,” he said, citing the shift toward streaming viewership. Director Pierre Coffin said his priority was creative pride over commercial targets. The film draws on Golden Age Hollywood imagery — Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin — while Coffin refined the Minions’ language across successive films. Illumination’s confirmed pipeline includes Sing 3, The Secret Lives of Pets 3, and original film Not Alone.
GKids Acquires Studio Ghibli’s 23-Film Library for UK and Ireland, Plans Kiki’s IMAX Debut
Toho-owned animation specialist GKids has acquired distribution rights to Studio Ghibli’s 23-film library across the United Kingdom and Ireland, covering theatrical, home video, television, and digital rights. The deal partners GKids with Glasgow-based Anime Limited — recently acquired by Toho — for local market execution. The first release will be an IMAX theatrical run of Kiki’s Delivery Service on August 21 in the UK and Ireland. Future IMAX releases are planned for The Secret World of Arrietty and Whisper of the Heart. The library includes classics such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and 20 additional Ghibli titles.
Sadie Sink Joined Spider-Man: Brand New Day Without Audition in Studio’s Mystery Marketing Play
Variety reports that Sadie Sink — known for her role as Max in Stranger Things — landed a part in Spider-Man: Brand New Day via a direct offer, bypassing the standard audition process. Her role is so closely guarded that Sink has been absent from all trailers and marketing materials for the Tom Holland-led blockbuster despite her standing as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after Gen Z stars. The film opens July 31. The casting strategy is part of a broader mystery-role approach studios use to sustain social-media speculation and audience anticipation between trailer drops in the weeks before a major release.
Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Hits EU Antitrust Crunch With UK Holding Key
The $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger has entered a critical European regulatory phase. The UK Competition and Markets Authority plans to conclude its Phase 1 review by August 7, but a Phase 2 investigation could extend the process by more than five months, threatening Paramount CEO David Ellison’s self-imposed September 30 closing deadline. Should Ellison miss that date, deal terms require Paramount to pay shareholders a “ticking fee” of several million dollars per day. The UK review is emerging as the pivotal jurisdiction after U.S. Department of Justice clearance was secured in June.
Paramount Pledges to Exit UIP Joint Venture to Win EU Approval for $111B Warner Deal
To clear European Commission approval for its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, Paramount Skydance has formally committed to exiting the United International Pictures (UIP) joint venture, a theatrical distribution partnership shared with Universal Pictures across European markets. The concession addresses regulators’ concerns that a merged Paramount-WBD entity would concentrate excessive theatrical distribution power in Europe. Theater operators had flagged UIP as the primary competition risk. The European Commission has set a provisional approval deadline of July 22, and Paramount believes the pledge will lead to clearance in time for David Ellison to close the deal by September 30.
Your Name and Ghost in the Shell 2 Land on Disney+ in UK and France Anime Deal
Two acclaimed anime features — Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name and Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence — have been licensed to Disney+ in the UK and France via a new deal handled through distributor Anime Limited, Variety reports. The agreement expands Disney+’s anime catalog across two major European markets and adds two of international animation’s most celebrated titles to its streaming library. The deal reflects accelerating competition among major SVOD platforms for premium anime catalog rights as platforms seek differentiated content to reduce subscriber churn in competitive European streaming markets.
Box Office — Currently in Theatres
| # | Title | Release Date | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toy Story 5 | Jun 19 | $70.8M | $326.6M |
| 2 | Minions & Monsters | Jul 1 | — | — |
| 3 | Supergirl | Jun 26 | $37.1M | $46.5M |
| 4 | Obsession | May 15 | $9.7M | $233.8M |
| 5 | Jackass: Best and Last | Jun 26 | $8.5M | $8.5M |
| 6 | Disclosure Day | Jun 12 | $8.3M | $94.5M |
| 7 | Backrooms | May 29 | $4.3M | $184.2M |
| 8 | Scary Movie | Jun 5 | $3.1M | $103.6M |
| 9 | BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War | Jun 26 | $3.0M | $3.0M |
| 10 | Masters of the Universe | Jun 5 | $2.3M | $62.0M |
| 11 | Star Wars: Mandalorian & Grogu | May 22 | $1.75M | $175.4M |
| 12 | Leviticus | Jun 19 | $1.0M | $5.4M |
| 13 | Michael | Apr 17 | $0.9M | $370.2M |
| 14 | Lucky Strike | Jun 26 | $0.8M | $0.8M |
| 15 | The Death of Robin Hood | Jun 19 | $0.6M | $4.8M |
| 16 | The Sheep Detectives | May 1 | $0.5M | $65.6M |
| 17 | The Breadwinner | May 29 | $0.5M | $20.1M |
| 18 | The Invite | Jun 26 | $0.4M | $0.4M |
| 19 | Girls Like Girls | Jun 19 | $0.3M | $2.5M |
| 20 | The Devil Wears Prada 2 | Apr 24 | $0.3M | $220.0M |
Source: Box Office Mojo · Weekend Jun 26–28 estimates | Wed Jul 1–2 mid-week actuals
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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