{"id":519931,"date":"2026-07-01T12:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/519931\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:57:08","slug":"pierre-coffin-and-chris-meledandri-talk-minions-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/519931\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri Talk \u2018Minions & Monsters\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMinions & Monsters opens in North America today after a promising $10 million box office kick-off<\/a> in 10 territories in Europe and Asia this past week. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tArriving in cinemas in the wake of Disney\/Pixar\u2019s Toy Story 5 and its near $600 million gross since June 19, all eyes are on whether Illumination<\/a>\/Universal<\/a>\u2019s little yellow monsters can pull off a similar box office coup.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo date, Illumination\u2019s four Despicable Me films, which first introduced the Minions with original picture Despicable Me in 2010, and spin-offs Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru, have grossed more than $5.6 billion at the global box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to Deadline at the Annecy<\/a> International Film Festival last week, where the picture world premiered on June 21, director Pierre Coffin<\/a> and Illumination founder and CEO Christopher Meledandri questioned the focus on the box office as a sign of the film\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI want to make the best movie possible. I want it to be something that I\u2019m proud of and I\u2019m obviously proud if the movie makes a lot, but my main goal is not like I want to this movie to make two billion, it\u2019s not my motivation,\u201d said Coffin.<\/p>\n

\n\tReferring to the $5.6 billion figure cited in Universal press releases in the lead up to the Minions & Monsters launch, Meledandri added: \u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s somewhat of a false premise in even putting those kinds of numbers out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFirst of all the way people are receiving and watching movies is changing. I think Pierre and I share the desire to have the movie be enjoyed by as many people as possible,\u201d he continued. \u00a0\u201cThe reality of that is that we\u2019re not in control of the balance of how those viewings are going to be split between the people who rush out to see it\u2026 and then how many times it\u2019ll be seen, for example, on streaming.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt the end of the day, ultimately, the most important thing is that people enjoy the film and hundreds of millions of people are going to see this movie however that happens\u2026 so the box office is almost somewhat of a misleading indicator to really what happens in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeledandri made it clear, however, that he still very much believes in the power of the theatrical experience.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t think cinema is going away, but I do think that with all of the change that\u2019s happening and all the things that are competing for people\u2019s attention, now is a moment in time for everybody who loves cinema to really champion it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd that means everything from making great movies to being enthusiasts for it and reminding people of just the joy and impact that you can have all gathering together\u2026 we work very hard to get people excited about seeing films in theatres because we want that to remain a very special part of our culture,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe most important thing that we can do in order to encourage that, is make movies that feel surprising\u2026 whether they\u2019re original film, or based on some existing property or a sequel or a prequel to a movie, you really have to put the emphasis on that discovery that can occur because the filmmaker has really become interested in making something that\u2019s quite differentiated. I feel Pierre has done that beautifully with this movie. The unexpected is so critical right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIllumination\u2019s Minions & Monsters, directed by Pierre Coffin.<\/p>\n

\n\tMinions & Monsters, sees the Minions land in the Golden Age of Hollywood, with a storyline led by new characters, James, an artistic Minion with dreams of becoming a director; comedic sidekick and bestie Henry, and mute companion Ed.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story unfolds with a recap of the Minions\u2019 indefatigable hunt for a truly evil boss, which leads them to California, where they latch onto a gun-toting bandit, thinking he could be a candidate, not realizing he is an actor and that they have gate-crashed a film shoot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the director tears his hair out, the producers see the footage and sign the Minions on the spot, but their fame is short-lived with the arrival of the talkies. James plots a comeback film, conjuring up a real-life monster for a key role, unwittingly leashing an evil power hellbent on destroying L.A. and the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tA love letter to the early days of the film industry, the picture is peppered with allusions to pioneers such as Auguste and Louis Lumi\u00e8re and their groundbreaking Workers Leaving the Lumi\u00e8re Factory short and Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s\u2019 A Trip to the Moon as well as silent era heroes Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.<\/p>\n

\n\tCoffin acknowledged that younger Minions fans will likely not recognise many of the allusions but says it now does not matter, and that he had been drawn to the era for its comedic possibilities as much as anything.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe setting is something for me, for us, to dig into in terms of how can we make it funny and what elements of that era are funny to us today? For example, the spitting on the shoes to clean them,\u201d he said, referring to a street shoe-shine scene.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a period movie but it doesn\u2019t have any sort of educational purpose\u2026 the idea was to take all those iconic things like the Harold Llyod clock scene and suggest that those particular moments were inspired by the Minions or rather caused by the Minions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeledandri added that he is still interested in how younger audiences with no knowledge of the references will respond.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you just think about how young people consume imagery, they\u2019re consuming bits and pieces of imagery all the time. Even though you may have no idea that that\u2019s an homage to Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd, it\u2019s still kind of a wild image\u2026 the knowledge is not a precondition to enjoying the film,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIllumination\u2019s Minions & Monsters, directed by Pierre Coffin.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside directing, Coffin has once again voiced the Minions\u2019 nonsensical language. He acknowledged a change in pace and tone this year from Minions: The Rise of Gru.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn 2015, we had problems in terms of I couldn\u2019t have them speak for too long because it was unbearable for me. It was unbearable for everyone. I didn\u2019t have the keys as to how to do that. It\u2019s a learning process,\u201d said Coffin.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn this one, I used everything possible to make the language sort of bearable in terms of the length, by finding tricks like putting a human character or someone that we understand repeat what they said, so a character that really doesn\u2019t know how to speak Minion but sort of\u00a0helps the audience, or having a character that magically understands the Minions paraphrase, like Goomi\u2026 I think I\u2019ve gotten a bit better at finding the melody of what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Minions & Monsters takes off in cinemas worldwide, there are no concrete plans for another picture in Despicable Me\/Minions franchise as yet.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the Despicable Me world, it\u2019s so hard to find a story that ignites the level of interest\u2026 so there\u2019s always conversation\u2026 we\u2019re always searching to see when and if something ignites that interest, but haven\u2019t found it yet,\u201d said Meledandri.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the meantime, confirmed projects in development and production at Paris-based Illumination include Sing 3, The Secret Lives of Pets 3 and Not Alone, which was announced during Annecy.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve waited a long time on Pets to find an idea to develop that I felt was really, really worthy of making as a film, so we\u2019re developing that, we\u2019re developing a Sing movie, and we\u2019ve just announced our next film Not Alone, which is an entirely original film,\u201d said Meledandri.<\/p>\n

\n\tFeaturing Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Selena Gomez in the voice cast, Not Alone is directed by longtime Illumination animators Jonathan del Val, Claire Dodgson and Eric Guillon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is directed by people who have come up through the studio\u2026 Eric Guillon was so pivotal in all of the design work for Minions and Despicable Me, the worlds, the characters, and the Sing worlds\u2026 He is a brilliant artist. Jonathan Del Val is one of our strongest directing animators, and Claire Dodgson, one of our really strong editors. It\u2019s a homegrown team directing in Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minions & Monsters opens in North America today after a promising $10 million box office kick-off in 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[208692,237997,179729,146,85,136054,46,217127,144672,19461],"class_list":["post-519931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-annecy","tag-annecy-international-animation-festival","tag-chris-meledandri","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-illumination","tag-israel","tag-minions-monsters","tag-pierre-coffin","tag-universal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}