The July 4th Weekend Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report
We’re back from some side background work (that’s acting to you) and the 4th of July holiday to bring you a new Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report.
New To The Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report?
Every Monday, here on the Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report we break down the weekend box office: who won, who didn’t, and what the numbers are really saying about what audiences want right now. It’s your post-weekend debrief with a little cocktail bite. The intro language and structure follow your established template.
Opening Pour
Well, the Minions are apparently still bulletproof. Minions & Monsters took the July Fourth weekend with $36.4 million over the traditional three-day weekend and $61.4 million across its first five days since opening Wednesday. That was just enough to beat Toy Story 5, which landed in second with $31 million, while Young Washington opened in third with $20.8 million and gave the America 250 crowd a little patriotic counterprogramming. It was not a gigantic holiday weekend overall, but it was a lively one, with two family titles and one historical drama making the chart feel a lot more alive than some sleepy midsummer weekends do.
Top 5 Domestic Films
(Weekend estimates, July 3 to July 5, 2026)
- Minions & Monsters — $36.4M
- Toy Story 5 — $31.0M
- Young Washington — $20.85M
- Supergirl — $9.6M
- Disclosure Day — $6.0M
Recap
This weekend’s domestic box office came in at about $121.3 million, which Barron’s notes was down roughly 23% to 24% from the same holiday weekend last year. That is the less sexy headline. The better one is that summer overall is still running ahead of 2025, with Barron’s reporting year-to-date domestic revenue at about $4.95 billion, up 13.2%. So yes, this particular weekend was lighter than last year’s July Fourth party, but the broader summer box office is still in healthier shape than the funeral directors of theatrical would like.
Highlights and insights
1) Minions & Monsters won because Illumination knows exactly what this crowd wants
A $36.4 million three-day and $61.4 million five-day opening is not franchise-best insanity, but it is absolutely a win. AP reports the film also launched to about $160 million globally, which is a very solid debut week for a seventh entry in a series that could have easily started to smell like old bananas by now. If there is franchise fatigue here, it is still making money while tired.
2) Toy Story 5 did not win the weekend, but it is still the heavier hitter long-term
Second place with $31 million looks like a loss only if you ignore the runway. Box Office Mojo and The Numbers both show Toy Story 5 at roughly $366.3 million domestic after 17 days, while Barron’s reports a global total of about $764.3 million. So yes, the Minions won the holiday weekend. But Pixar is still sitting on the bigger pile of money and probably sleeping just fine.
3) Young Washington had a respectable start and probably hit exactly the audience it needed
Opening to $20.85 million is a pretty sturdy launch for a historical drama, especially on a holiday weekend tied to America’s 250th birthday. AP says the film follows George Washington’s early military career, which makes this one of those nicely timed releases where the calendar is doing at least part of the marketing for you. It was never going to beat Minions or Pixar. It did not need to.
4) Supergirl had the roughest visible fall
Fourth place with $9.6 million would be one thing. A 74.1% drop in weekend two is another. Box Office Mojo has it there in ugly black and white, and AP also called out the steep fall. That is the kind of number that makes everybody start speaking in very careful studio-approved sentences on Monday morning.
5) The summer’s weirder winners are still hanging around
Disclosure Day took fifth with $6 million, Obsession landed sixth with $5.3 million, and Backrooms was seventh with $3.3 million. None of those are giant headline grosses this weekend, but together they underline a fun truth about this summer: not everything has to be a giant four-quadrant IP tank to matter. Some of the year’s most interesting box office stories are still the oddballs refusing to die.
Who Had the Rough Morning After?
This week, the rough morning after belongs to Supergirl. A 74.1% weekend-to-weekend drop is brutal no matter how politely you dress it up, and getting pushed to fourth on a holiday weekend behind two family titles and a historical drama is not exactly the kind of sequel-weekend story Warner Bros. wanted. You could also spare a sympathetic glance at anyone trying to launch serious adult fare into a weekend where children and Minions were clearly running the country.
What’s next
The immediate question is whether Minions & Monsters holds well enough to keep the top spot, or whether this was just a nice holiday bounce before the next challenger arrives. Barron’s points to a strong July runway ahead, with titles like Disney’s live-action Moana, Universal’s The Odyssey, and Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day still to come. So while this particular weekend was not a firecracker explosion for the whole business, the month ahead still has plenty of gasoline stacked nearby.
Final Pour
That’s it for the Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report. This holiday weekend did not rewrite the summer. It did remind everyone that family audiences still run the damn place when they are given something shiny, familiar, and loud enough to justify the trip. Minions & Monsters took the crown, Toy Story 5 kept stacking money, Young Washington found its lane, and Supergirl woke up with the ugliest headache in town. Not an all-time July 4th weekend, but definitely not a dead one either. 🍸🍿
