MINIONS & MONSTERS
Minions & Monsters is a 2026 American animated comedy film directed by Pierre Coffin and written by Coffin and Brian Lynch. Produced by Illumination, it is the third installment in the Minions prequel series and the seventh installment overall in the Despicable Me franchise. The film will star Coffin as the Minions, alongside Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, and Phil LaMarr. Taking place in 1920, 48 years before the events of Minions (2015), the film follows the Minions as they aim to make a monster movie of their own in Old Hollywood.
The film was announced in July 2024, after the release of Despicable Me 4, with Coffin and Lynch returning to direct and write, respectively, and Chris Meledandri producing alongside Bill Ryan.[5] John Powell is set to compose the score, marking his third collaboration with Illumination following The Lorax (2012) and Migration (2023) and the first Despicable Me installment not to be scored by Heitor Pereira.
Minions & Monsters premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 21, 2026, and will be theatrically released in the United States on July 1 by Universal Pictures. The film has received generally positive reviews and has grossed $10.3 million.
Plot
At a film history museum, as a group of people was being given a tour of the building, a little girl spots two statues of Minions. The tour guide reveals their names as James and Henry and begins telling their story.
A different tribe of Minions from the one that would go on to serve Gru is on a hunt to serve the world’s greatest villains but, in many different ways, winds up killing their masters by mistake. James, who is more artistic with a passion for painting and drawing, quickly develops a close friendship with two other minions, Henry and Ed. Among the many masters the Minions served was a wicked warlock, who was killed by a monster after Henry summoned it from his spellbook, which he then takes along with him.
While fighting each other in the desert, the Minions stumble across a train robbery, deciding to chase after the robber to become his henchmen. However, it was revealed that the robbery was all a staged performance meant for a Hollywood film production. Though the film’s director, Max, was furious with the Minions, film executives Frank and Elwood became enamored of their antics, so Max hired the Minions to star in his films. The Minions soon became a global phenomenon, appearing in several silent films and living a life of Hollywood stardom.
When sound film came along, the Minions were unable to adapt to the new technology because their language was incomprehensible. Having cost the studio millions in failed film material, the Minions were banned from Hollywood. Not wanting to give up on his passion, James comes up with the idea of making his own movie titled Minions and Monsters, in which the Minions would fight giant creatures. The tribe’s leader, Dick, rejects James’ idea and leads the rest of the Minions back to find a new evil master, but Henry and Ed break away to help James make his film a reality. When it was pitched to Max, he allowed James to work on the movie. Ed gets the idea to use the warlock’s old spellbook to summon a squid monster to use for the film, but is surprised that it is much smaller than expected. The monster, Goomi, sees James’ idea and offers to help him find the perfect monsters for the movie.
Meanwhile, Dick and the other Minions decide to work for a futuristic alien robot named Dort, who is determined to invade Earth. Even when Dort’s cracks begin to show, Dick believes that he is the one to lead them. While trying to start his conquest for world domination, he ends up falling in love with women’s rights activist Debbie, forcing the Minions to help Dort and Debbie become a couple instead.
Goomi leads James, Henry, and Ed to a frozen fortress and frees the sea monsters Phillip and Howard, from them to star in James’ movie, secretly using it as a front to summon Irene, a large orange blob monster. Henry overhears this and tries to alert James, but Phillip and Howard kidnap him and use him in a scene in the movie where Goomi summons Irene, and James consents. Just as shooting begins, Irene breaks out and begins wreaking havoc, with Goomi revealing his true nature.
While on a date in the park with Debbie, Dort and the other Minions oversee Irene. Dort cowardly refuses to fight the monster, forcing the Minions to fight Irene themselves. Irene succeeds in swallowing Henry, with James entering her to rescue him, while the Minions take over from the military in holding her off. At first they succeed in tearing her apart, but Irene reconstructs herself. However, a redeemed Dort re-emerges with the other minions in a spacecraft, then petrifies Irene; Henry and James cast a spell to send Goomi, Phillip, and Howard back to where they were once trapped. The public hails the Minions as heroes.
As Ed had captured the entire battle on film, James’ movie had its world premiere months later and received a standing ovation from the audience. The tour guide finishes telling the story, revealing that James and Henry directed the film.
Voice cast
- Pierre Coffin as the Minions
- Trey Parker as Goomi, a Cthulhu-resembling monster whose full name is Gary Orcam Oliver Magma Ichabod the Deceiver[6]
- Allison Janney as Olivia, a Universal tour guide[1][7]
- Christoph Waltz as Max, a film director that the Minions want to enlist to make their movie[8]
- Jesse Eisenberg as Dort, an alien robot that the Minions see as their potential boss. He is a parody and homage to the character Gort from the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still.[9]
- Jeff Bridges as Frank and Elwood, the bosses of a film studio[8]
- Zoey Deutch as Debbie, a strong-willed suffragette[1]
- Bobby Moynihan as Phillips, one of two creatures freed by Goomi[7]
- Phil LaMarr as Howard, one of two creatures freed by Goomi[7]
- George Lucas as himself, trapped in a display case inside a film museum.[10]
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YOUNG WASHINGTON
Young Washington is a 2026 American epic historical war drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Jon Erwin. It is based on the early life of the Founding Father and first president of the United States, George Washington, and focuses on his experiences and command in the French and Indian War. William Franklyn-Miller stars as the titular character, alongside Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, Andy Serkis, and Ben Kingsley.
The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 13, 2026, and will be released in the United States by Angel Studios on July 3, 2026.
Premise
The story recounts the early life of George Washington before the American Revolutionary War and his presidency.
Cast
- William Franklyn-Miller as George Washington
- Ben Kingsley as Robert Dinwiddie
- Andy Serkis as Edward Braddock
- Joel Smallbone as William Fairfax
- Kelsey Grammer as Thomas Fairfax
- Mary-Louise Parker as Mary Ball Washington
- Mia Rodgers as Sally Fairfax
- Jonno Davies as James Mackay
- John Foss as Lawrence Washington
- Michael Benz as Thomas Gage
- Leo Hanna as Christopher Gist
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SWALLOWTAIL AND DRAGONFLY
Based on the true story of one courageous woman’s journey from stardom as a gifted artist in glamorous 1930s Shanghai through war and revolution and back again, sustained by her gift for beauty and an epic love that would not die.
Overview
Attractive, intelligent, and gifted, and one of China’s most famous female painters and poets, Lianxia “Ziyi” Zhou and her talented husband, Wanping Xu, took Shanghai by storm in the 1930s as part of an iconic circle of famous artists and writers that included the world-famous Chang Dai-chien, Xu Beihong, Xu Zhimo, Jiang Biwei, Lu Xiaoman, Wu Hufan, Bertrand Russell, and Pearl Buck. They redefined the conventions of the time and shaped the cultural path China has followed to this day. But when the world around them erupted into war, a cruel twist of fate tears Ziyi and Wanping apart and plunges her and their five children into dire straits that left them struggling to survive. Walking in beauty, with a heart inspired by art and by the love for her country and her missing husband, Ziyi kept her family and her dreams alive in a nation ravaged by war and political strife. Until a miracle happened.
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MARY OLIVER: SAVED BY THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD
The documentary is being advertised, in part, as unearthing the enigma—a boast emboldened by never-before-seen photographs, excerpts from notebooks, and personal correspondences. But while “Saved by the Beauty of the World” captivates the senses and moves the heart, it fails to meaningfully mine the deeper layers of the poet’s elusive life.
Commentators brood about Oliver’s “dark and broken” childhood; friends speak in ominous but vague tones about her second partner; in an archival interview with journalist Maria Shriver, Oliver speaks of being a victim of childhood sexual assault. This is about the extent of what we learn about her upbringing, which Oliver desperately wanted to leave behind. All the blank spaces suggest that perhaps she succeeded.
As the poet Nick Flynn put it, “I know there’s a lot more to her life than just waking up in the morning and going up for a walk. What is the storm?” This is a common critique of Oliver’s poems, but it could also apply to this film.
The most intimate access made available to the audience is Oliver’s 40-year-long romantic partnership with the photographer Molly Malone Cook, affectionately called “M,” whom she met while living at Edna St. Vincent Millay’s home, Steepletop, in New York. The couple later moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts, the chilly, oceanside landscape that inspired so much of the poet’s work.
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6/29/2026 #Minions&Monsters #YoungWashington #SwallowtailandDragonfly #MaryOliver:SavedbytheBeautyoftheWorld