Minions & Monsters Trailer Breakdown: Trey Parker, Christoph Waltz Join Minions' Wildest Hollywood Adventure Yet

Minions & Monsters: The Despicable Me Franchise Gets Its Most Chaotic Movie Yet

If you thought the Minions couldn't get any wilder, think again. Illumination and Universal Pictures are about to drop Minions & Monsters in theaters on July 1, 2026 — and this time, the tiny yellow troublemakers are heading to 1920s Hollywood to make a monster movie. Yes, really.

The third installment in the Minions prequel series (and the seventh film in the overall Despicable Me franchise) just dropped its final trailer, and honestly? It looks absolutely bonkers in the best way possible.

A Star-Studded Voice Cast That Will Make You Laugh

Director Pierre Coffin — the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind the original Despicable Me trilogy and 2015's Minions — returns to voice the Minions themselves. But the real surprise is the all-star cast surrounding them:

Trey Parker (of South Park fame) voices a new character called Goomi
Christoph Waltz plays a film director — honestly, perfect casting
Jeff Bridges takes on the role of a film studio head
Allison Janney returns to the franchise
Jesse Eisenberg and Zoey Deutch round out the ensemble
Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr also join the voice cast

Screenwriter Brian Lynch, who previously worked on Minions and The Secret Life of Pets films, penned the script alongside Coffin. The movie is produced by Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and Bill Ryan (executive producer on The Super Mario Bros. Movie).

1920s Hollywood Meets Classic Monster Mayhem

Here's the wild premise: set roughly four decades before the events of Minions (2015), the film follows our favorite yellow characters as they trade their usual villain-hunting ambitions for a shot at moviemaking. They travel across Old Hollywood searching for real monsters to star in their own monster film — and things go exactly as predictably unpredictable as you'd expect.

The plot has the Minions conquering Hollywood, becoming movie stars, losing it all, accidentally unleashing actual monsters onto the world, and then teaming up to save the planet from the chaos they created. It's giving classic monster movie homage meets slapstick Minion comedy, and the mashup somehow works.

On the music front, composer John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon, The Bourne Identity) takes over scoring duties from Heitor Pereira, marking the first time the franchise has switched composers — a notable shift that could give the film a completely different energy.

Annecy Premiere and the Road to July

Minions & Monsters will make its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 21, 2026, before hitting theaters worldwide ten days later. The film had already generated serious buzz after unveiling footage at CinemaCon 2026 and dropping a Super Bowl trailer earlier this year.

Illumination has a deep history with Annecy — the original Despicable Me premiered there in 2010, and Minions: The Rise of Gru opened the festival in 2022. So bringing Minions & Monsters back to Annecy feels like a full-circle moment for the franchise.

Mark your calendars for July 1. If the trailer is anything to go by, this might be the most fun you'll have at the movies all summer. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧