Film Music Reporter

John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon, The Bourne Identity, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Shrek, Happy Feet, Bolt, Don’t Worry Darling, X-Men: The Last Stand) is scoring Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming animated feature Minions & Monsters. The film is directed by Pierre Coffin who previously co-directed the first three Despicable Me films and the first Minions film. The movie tells the story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and then banded together to try and save the planet from the mayhem they had just created. Coffin also co-wrote the screenplay with Brian Lynch (The Secret Life of Pets). Illumination’s Chris Meledandri (The Super Mario Bros. Movie) and Bill Ryan are producing the project. Powell has previously scored Illumination’s 2012 feature Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax! and 2023’s Migration. Heitor Pereira has composed the score for the first two Minions movies and also wrote music for all three Despicable Me features. Minions & Monsters will be released in theaters nationwide on July 1, 2026 by Universal Pictures. (THR)