Minions & Monsters Movie

Minions & Monsters

2026 | PG | 1h 30m

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family, Sci-fi

Directed by

Pierre Coffin

Screenplay by

Brian Lynch

Pierre Coffin

Produced by

Chris Meledandri

Bill Ryan

Cast

Pierre Coffin

Trey Parker

Allison Janney

Christoph Waltz

Jesse Eisenberg

Jeff Bridges

Zoey Deutch

Bobby Moynihan

Phil LaMarr

Edited by

Claire Dodgson

Gregory Perler

Music by John Powell

Production

companies

Universal Pictures

Illumination

Distributed by Universal Pictures

Release dates

June 21, 2026 (Annecy)

July 1, 2026 (United States)

Running time 90 minutes

Country United States

Language English

Budget $85 million

Box office $10 million

Tom Hardy Returning To ‘MobLand’ For Season 3 After Issues Resolved, Paving Way For Renewal

The main three characters in MobLand will stay the same for Season 3 of the hit crime series on Paramount+.According to sources, Tom Hardy will stay and continue to act with Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan.

A month ago, there was some tension between Tom Hardy and the show's writer, producer, and creator, Jez Butterworth, during the making of Season 2.

This led to them not being able to work together anymore.

In the weeks after that, there was some effort to bring Hardy back.

He also got support from Mirren on social media.

This effort led to a meeting in London between Hardy, Butterworth, and the show's executive producer, David Glasser.

The meeting went well, and they all agreed on a plan moving forward.Guy Ritchie, who is also an executive producer, was involved in helping fix things, which led to Hardy returning to the show full-time.

The show is too important and successful to change the main characters' relationship, which fans really like.

Deadline reports that the writers for Season 3 had already started working before the Season 2 premiere.

Because of the resolution, the new season is now being written with Hardy, Mirren, and Brosnan's characters as the focus: Harry, Maeve, and Conrad.

Even though it's not officially confirmed yet, MobLand is expected to get a third season.

The show was renewed for a second season last year, after it became one of the most successful original series on Paramount+.

Tom Hardy had a three-year contract from the start, so his return should be easy.

When the problem between Hardy and Butterworth was revealed, some work on Season 2 was done, but not finished yet.

Other executive producers on the show include Ronan Bennett, who created it.

MobLand is produced by Glasser’s 101 Studios and Paramount TV Studios.

It follows two rival mob families in a fight that could destroy everything.The cast includes Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Jasmine Jobson, Geoff Bell, Daniel Betts, Lisa Dwan, and Emily Barber.

Werwulf’ Trailer: Aaron Taylor-Johnson Transforms Into a Werewolf in Robert Eggers’ New Gothic Horror Movie

There doesn't have to be a full moon for this creature to show up.

Focus Features has shared the trailer for "Werewulf," which will be shown in theaters on December 25.

The movie's basic summary says, "In 13th-century England, a strange creature moves through a misty countryside, making local legends come true and turning villagers into frightened people."  

The trailer shows Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the main creature, who changes into a terrifying form that scares everyone in town.

Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp are working with director Robert Eggers again, as they did in "Nosferatu." Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson are also coming back for this new horror film from Eggers.

Other actors in the film include Jack Morris, Jan Bijvoet, Ritchi Edwards, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach.

The movie is being produced by Chris and Eleanor Columbus from Maiden Voyage, along with Focus Features, Eggers, and Sjón.Eggers and Sjón previously worked together on "The Northman" in 2022.

Focus Features has worked on all of Eggers' films, including "Nosferatu," which came out on Christmas Day 2024.

In that movie, Depp played a young woman who is troubled by a vampire named Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård).Taylor-Johnson played Friedrich Harding, a person who believes vampires aren't real.Nicholas Hoult and Emma Corrin also starred in that film, which made $40 million on its opening day and earned over $181 million worldwide.

Eggers has been making horror movies before, including "The Northman" with Alexander Skarsgård and "The Witch" with Anya Taylor-Joy and Ineson.

In 2019, he directed "The Lighthouse," which starred Robert Pattinson and Dafoe.

Persona’ Live-Action TV Adaptation in the Works at Netflix, 21 Laps & Story Kitchen to Produce

Netflix is making a live-action series based on the "Persona" video game series, according to Variety.

Christopher Monfette is writing the show and will also be the executive producer and showrunner.

Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, and Robert Atwood from 21 Laps are also executive producers, along with Dmitri M.Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg, and Timothy I.Stevenson from Story Kitchen.Toru Nakahara from SEGA is also an executive producer.Emily Feher is managing the project for 21 Laps, which is currently under an overall TV deal with Netflix.

Netflix has not made any comments about the project.

The "Persona" games are very popular RPGs.

Each game has a different story, but they usually follow Japanese high school students who go through daily life, build friendships, and fight supernatural threats.

The games were created by P-Studios, part of Atlus, and published by Sega.

There have been six main games so far, and the seventh, "Persona 6," is set for release in June 2026.There are also 15 spinoff games in the series.The "Persona" games started as a spinoff of the "Shin Megami Tensei" series, with the first "Persona" game, "Revelations: Persona," released in 1996.The most recent game was "Persona 5: The Phantom X" in 2025, and "Persona 4 Revival" is coming out in February 2027.

If this series goes ahead, it would not be the first Netflix show based on a video game.

Netflix produced the live-action "The Witcher" series, as well as animated shows like "Arcane," "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners," and "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft."

Monfette has worked on shows like "12 Monkeys" on Syfy, "Star Trek: Picard" on Paramount+, and "9-1-1" on Fox and ABC.

He is also writing and co-producing the upcoming Marvel Disney+ series "VisionQuest."

On the TV side, 21 Laps is best known for creating the hit Netflix series "Stranger Things," which ended after five seasons.

The show helped make Netflix originals popular and showed that streaming series can be just as good as TV shows from traditional networks.21 Laps has also made other shows like "The Perfect Couple" and "Last Man Standing," and has produced movies like "Backrooms" and "Deadpool & Wolverine," with Levy directing and co-writing the latter.

Story Kitchen was started in 2022 by "Sonic the Hedgehog" producer Johnson and his former partner Goldberg.

The company also includes veteran production executive Stevenson and creative executive Elena Sandoval.They focus on turning video game and other non-traditional IP into TV and film.Their current projects include live-action versions of "Tomb Raider" and "Life Is Strange," both set up at Amazon Prime Video.

Monfette is represented by Industry Entertainment.

21 Laps is represented by WME and Ziffren Brittenham.Story Kitchen is represented by WME and Pryor Cashman Sherman & Flynn.

Variety Wins 16 Southern California Journalism Awards

Variety won 16 first-place awards on Sunday night as the Los Angeles Press Club gave out the 68th annual Southern California Journalism Awards.

Variety's top wins included awards for music criticism, won by music editor Jem Aswad; film criticism under 1,000 words, won by Owen Gleiberman; and TV criticism, won by Aramide Tinubu.

These awards were given during a long ceremony held at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Variety entered the night as the top nominee with 100 total mentions.

The Southern California Journalism Awards include print newspapers and magazines, TV, radio, and digital news outlets, as well as radio, podcasts, and social media.Variety's wins were spread out across their large editorial team, which is the biggest in the industry focused on entertainment business news.

Other first-place winners from Variety included:

Selome Hailu for a feature under 1,000 words titled "How Planned Parenthood's Caren Spruch Works With Lena Dunham and Other Creatives to Sensitively Portray Abortion on Screen"

Brent Lang for a film/broadcast-related feature online titled "Controversy Swirls, Legal Threats Fly After Sundance Documentary 'The Stringer' Questions Origin of Iconic 'Napalm Girl' Photo"

Trish Deitch for a personality profile titled "'I Can't Not Be Who I Am': Jamie Lee Curtis on Her 47-Year Career, Falling in Love With Christopher Guest and Why She Hopes Charlie Kirk Found God"

Ellise Shafer for a personality profile, music and arts personalities titled "Diana Silvers on Her Debut Album 'From Another Room' and Following Folk Heroes by Speaking Truth to Power: 'If Your Art Doesn't Scare You, It's Not Really Worth It' (EXCLUSIVE)"

Richard Phibbs, Jennifer Dorn, and Jennifer Halper for an entertainment photo titled the May 2025 cover "A$AP Rocky"

Daniel D'Addario for an obituary appreciation for film and TV personalities titled "Hollywood's Humanist: Rob Reiner Was a Gifted Collaborator Who Understood Why We Tell Stories"

K.J.

Yossman for consumer news or feature titled "BBC Crisis Explained: How the Beloved U.K.Broadcaster Walked Into One of the Worst Scandals in Its 100-Year History — and Where It Goes From Here"

Kate Aurthur for a film feature, production histories titled "Bravo Boss Frances Berwick on the 'Joy' of BravoCon and Who Can Be Forgiven by the Network (Karen Huger!) — and Who Can't (Jen Shah, Probably)"

Naman Ramachandran for a theater/arts feature titled "'MJ the Musical' Star Jamaal Fields-Green on the 'Huge Responsibility' of Playing Michael Jackson on Stage"

Ethan Shanfeld for a music feature titled "Inside the Diddy Trial Circus: How Screaming Fans, Baby Oil and Street Preachers Turned the Courthouse Into a Madhouse"

Ramin Setoodeh for an entertainment feature, TV/streaming related titled "Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri Aren't Holding Back: 'After the Hunt' Stars on Making the Year's Most Provocative Movie"

Brian Steinberg for culture news/TV feature-related titled "CBS Put 'Evening News' Through Massive Overhaul.

Now It Needs People to Watch"

Brian Steinberg for business reporting titled "TV News Faces Creator Chaos as Anchors Chase Digital Dreams That Bring Big Bucks (or Return Little Reward)"

Owen Gleiberman also placed second in the category of film critic over 1,000 words.

Brian Steinberg placed second in the online journalist of the year category, as did Daniel D'Addario in the print journalist of the year category.

Honorary awards were given out at the ceremony to Rob Fukuzaki, a veteran Los Angeles sportscaster at KABC-TV, for lifetime achievement; singer Kenny Chesney for public service; NBC News' Craig Melvin for social impact; and civil rights attorney Carol Sobel for defense of journalists.

Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa was honored with the club's Daniel Pearl Award for extraordinary courage and commitment to journalism in the face of adversity.

Ressa, who is a strong advocate for press freedom and investigative reporting in her native Philippines, shared a compelling story of her long investigation into Southeast Asian links to Al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and the brutal January 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Ressa warned the audience of top journalists in the region about what she called "the Philippine-ization of America" and urged them to "hold the line" on First Amendment rights and protections.

She mentioned her own experience of facing 11 separate prosecutions in her home country for doing her job as a journalist.She noted she had to get permission from the country's top court to travel to Los Angeles to accept the award in person.Her main opponent, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested last year under an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

"Here I am in front of you," Ressa said to the crowd.

"He's now in prison at The Hague awaiting trial."

Ressa also spoke about Pearl's tragic death, which often comes to mind as she pursues a dangerous profession.

She said the current era is no less dangerous for journalists, given the attacks on the media in many countries and the decline in public trust in journalism.In a time of what she called "information armageddon," she said journalists must be brave in their work.She pointed out the alarming spread of misinformation and outright "lies," and said journalists need to ask themselves, "What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?"

‘Michael’ Surpasses ‘Oppenheimer’ as Highest-Grossing Biopic With $977 Million Worldwide

"Michael" has made $977 million worldwide, passing "Oppenheimer" as the highest-grossing biographical film ever.

Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" was the previous record holder for biopics, earning $975 million around the globe.

That's a big number for an R-rated historical story that's almost three hours long."Michael" was already the biggest musical biopic, beating "Bohemian Rhapsody" from 2018, which made $911 million worldwide.

"Michael" was released by Lionsgate in the U.S.

and Universal internationally.It has made $607.2 million overseas and $370.2 million in the U.S.since April.The movie started with $97 million in the U.S.and $217 million worldwide, which broke the opening record for musical biopics, previously held by "Straight Outta Compton" from 2015, which opened with $60 million.Because of good word-of-mouth and people watching it multiple times, "Michael" stayed strong during the busy summer movie season.

"Michael" is directed by Antoine Fuqua and tells the story of the performer's journey from the Jackson 5 to becoming the King of Pop.

Jaafar Jackson, the singer's real-life nephew, acts as Michael Jackson in his first acting role.Colman Domingo and Nia Long play Joe and Katherine, his parents.Some film critics have said "Michael" presents a cleaned-up version of Jackson's life because it doesn't include the child sexual abuse allegations he faced later in his career.Since the movie skips the most controversial parts of his life, Lionsgate focused on the more entertaining parts in their marketing, like detailed recreations of concert performances and music videos.

"Michael" also set a new record for Lionsgate as their highest-grossing film ever, surpassing "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" from 2013, which made $865 million.

The studio is likely to make another movie about Jackson's life.

Supergirl’ Stumbles With $38 Million Debut, ‘Toy Story 5’ Remains No. 1 With $70 Million

 "Supergirl" is having a hard time doing well at the box office.The movie is based on a comic book and is about Superman's cousin, and it made only $38 million from 3,600 theaters in North America and $68 million worldwide.The studio expected it to make around $50 million to $55 million in the US, which is already not great for a big movie.The movie's mixed reviews and strong competition during the summer movie season are making it hard for the film to stay popular in theaters.That's a problem because the movie cost a lot to make—$170 million, not including the marketing.To break even, it needs to make at least $375 million because theaters keep about half of the money.A person close to the movie says the break-even point is actually around $300 million.

Critics were not happy with "Supergirl," which has a 56% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Audiences also had mixed feelings, giving it a "B-" on CinemaScore.The movie mostly drew in male viewers, so it didn't attract a wider audience beyond superhero fans.Milly Alcock plays Supergirl, who goes on a journey with her dog Krypto and meets an alien girl named Ruthye, whom she helps with a revenge mission.The movie was directed by Craig Gillespie, who has directed other films like "I, Tonya" and "Cruella," and written by Ana Nogueira, who worked on "The Vampire Diaries."

"Supergirl" comes a year after "Superman," which was a reboot of the DC Universe.

That movie made $125 million and ended up with $618 million worldwide, which is a decent result for a superhero movie.Warner Bros.Discovery's CEO, David Zaslav, talked about a 10-year plan to build up the DC Universe, saying the plan was clear and moving forward.But the weak start of "Supergirl" shows that this plan might be facing some challenges.

"Superman" had the advantage of being about one of the most famous superheroes, while Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, isn't as well-known.

The success of "Supergirl" might show whether lesser-known characters get big-screen treatment or if future DC movies will only focus on popular characters.The next movie is "Clayface," which is a smaller budget film, and then there's "Superman: Man of Tomorrow" in 2027 with popular actors returning.

Another movie this weekend was "Jackass: Best and Last," which didn't do well, making $8.4 million in the US and $10.3 million worldwide.

That's the worst opening in the series.Compared to "Jackass Forever" which made $23 million in the US and $80 million globally, this one didn't do as well.However, it had a lower budget of $10 million, so it doesn't need to make as much to be profitable.

Critics and audiences actually liked "Jackass: Best and Last," with an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an "A-" on CinemaScore.

The movie had some old and new stunts but wasn't completely new, which might have affected its audience.David A.Gross from FranchiseRe said it's a weak opening but noted that having a fifth movie in the series is an accomplishment and it should be profitable even if it underperformed overseas.

Neither of these new movies came close to beating "Toy Story 5," which remained number one.

It made $70 million in its second weekend, a 55% drop from its first $160 million."Toy Story 5" is on track to be one of the biggest movies of the year with $297 million in the US and $585 million worldwide after 12 days.It's also expected to break the record for the franchise set by "Toy Story 4" with over $1.07 billion.

"Obsession" came in third, behind "Supergirl" and ahead of "Jackass: Best and Last." The movie has been in theaters for seven weeks and made $9.8 million, with a 27% drop in ticket sales.

It has made $233.9 million in the US and $370 million globally, making it a huge success for the studio and theaters.

Steven Spielberg's movie "Disclosure Day" finished fifth, making $8.1 million, a 54% drop from the previous weekend.

It has made $94.3 million in the US and $193 million worldwide after three weekends.Since the movie cost $115 million, it needs about $300 million worldwide to be profitable.

A24's comedy "The Invite" made $379,104 in just seven theaters in New York and Los Angeles, which means it earned about $54,158 per location.The film's success so far is a good sign, but it will be interesting to see how it does as it opens in more places before coming to theaters nationwide on July 10.Olivia Wilde directed "The Invite," which got good reviews.In the movie, she and Seth Rogen play a married couple who argue and host a dinner for their more wild upstairs neighbors, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton.

Even though this weekend's new movies didn't do as well as expected, Hollywood is having its best summer since the start of the pandemic.

Box office numbers are just 1.7% lower than they were in 2019, according to Rentrak.Next weekend is July 4th, and that's when the family-friendly "Minions & Monsters," a spinoff of "Despicable Me," comes out.Other big movies coming up include Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."  

Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, says, "Those lovable little Minions will create some box office excitement.

The summer hit parade just keeps going."