‘Minions & Monsters’ To Open Annecy Animation Film Festival

Minions & Monsters may follow the titular heroes as they conquer Hollywood but the movie will be stopping by the French lakeside Annecy International Animation Film Festival for its world premiere.

The festival has confirmed that the Illumination and Universal Pictures production, which launches worldwide on July 1, will open the 2026 edition of the festival running June 21 to June 27.

In a storyline teased at CinemaCon earlier this month, Minions & Monsters follows the Minions as they conquer Hollywood, become movie stars, lose everything, unwittingly unleash monsters onto the world and then unite to save the planet from the mayhem they created.

Oscar-nominated Illumination stalwart Pierre Coffin directs the new movie, the third movie in the Minions franchise after Minions (2015) and  Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Illumination has a long relationship with Annecy, with highlights including the world premiere in 2010 of Despicable Me, launching of the hit franchise which then spawned the Minions movies.

The three subsequent Despicable Me films have played at the festival, with the fourth instalment making its French premiere there in 2024 in the presence of director Chris Renaud and Delage, while Minions: The Rise of Gru opened the festival in 2022.

Illumination’s CEO Chris Meledandri was feted with the festival’s Golden Ticket lifetime achievement award in 2023.

Coffin was the director of the first three Despicable Me films and the first Minions film. He has also provided the voice for the Minions since their film debut in 2010.

The film is written by Brian Lynch (Minions, The Secret Life of Pets films) and Coffin. It is produced by Meledandri and by Bill Ryan, who was executive producer on The Super Mario Bros. Movie), while Lynch takes an executive producer credit.

Illumination has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures.

Annecy will unveil its full lineup on Tuesday, April 28. Variety was the first to report the news that Minions & Monsters was opening the festival.