Box office results: where Young Washington landed against Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters
The July 4 weekend — America's 250th birthday, no less — turned into a three-way family fight at the domestic box office.
Minions & Monsters took the crown, Toy Story 5 kept printing money, and the real story was Young Washington, the historical drama nobody expected in the top three. Here are the numbers, based on estimates for the July 3–5 frame.
The top of the chart
- Minions & Monsters — $36.4 million (No. 1) — Universal and Illumination opened on Wednesday, July 1 and led the three-day frame, with $61.4 million over five days. It 's the franchise 's seventh straight No. 1 debut — and its lowest opening ever. The series still crossed $2 billion domestic in the process.
- Toy Story 5 — $31 million (No. 2) — down 56% in weekend three, now at $366.3 million domestic and $764 million worldwide after 17 days.
- Young Washington — $20.8 million (No. 3) — the weekend's surprise, from just 2,700 theaters.
- Supergirl — $9.6 million (No. 4) — a brutal 74% second-weekend drop, for $58.5 million domestic and $100.5 million worldwide.
- Disclosure Day — $6 million (No. 5) — Steven Spielberg's thriller in its fourth weekend.
Why Young Washington over-performed
Tracking pointed to an opening around $15 million. Jon Erwin's drama about George Washington's French and Indian War years — with William Franklyn-Miller in the lead — beat that by nearly 40%, averaging $7,721 per theater against Hollywood 's two biggest family franchises.
The timing did a lot of work. A film about young Washington, released July 3, during the country's 250th-anniversary celebrations.
Audiences handed it an A CinemaScore, more than 65% of the gross came from the Midwest and South, and Chris Pratt — who has nothing to do with the film — boosted it on social media.
It's now the second-biggest opening in Angel Studios history, behind David's $22 million and ahead of Sound of Freedom's $19.7 million. Erwin announced within days of the debut that writing has begun on a sequel, titled 1776.
Is Minions & Monsters in trouble?
Not really. A franchise-low start stings when Despicable Me 4 opened to $122 million two years ago, but this one carries an $85 million budget, an 89% critics' score, and roughly $160 million worldwide already. Analysts project a domestic finish anywhere from $130 million to $180 million. A softer hit is still a hit.
The bigger picture
The three-day weekend totaled $121.3 million, putting 2026 about 13% ahead of last year's pace. Toy Story 5, now the No. 3 film of 2026 domestically, is tracking toward roughly $450 million stateside, buoyed by a $14.6 million Japan launch — the biggest ever there for a Hollywood studio. And the family pile-up isn't over: Disney 's live-action Moana lands July 10.
For the record: Toy Story 5's $160 million debut is still the biggest opening of 2026. It has about four weeks left to enjoy the title.