Universal Pictures’ Minions & Monsters leads the new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend, as Olivia Wilde’s The Invite is also out for Black Bear.
Pierre Coffin’s animated comedy Minions & Monsters opens in 665 locations.
It is the third entry in the Minions series and the seventh film overall in the Despicable Me franchise. The first Minions film debuted at the top of the UK-Ireland box office in 2015, grossing £11.6m from 573 sites, while Minions: The Rise Of Gru took the top spot in its UK opening weekend in 2022 with £10.4 m from 637 sites.
Minions And Monsters opened the Annecy film festival in June earlier this year. It follows the yellow protagonists on a mission to scout a monster ensemble for their 1920’s Hollywood film, yet when the creatures become too powerful, the minions must step up to save the world. Zoey Deutch and Jessie Eisenberg are among the voice cast.
An open invitation
Black Bear Pictures’ The Invite opens in 588 locations. The dinner party comedy premiered at the 2026 Sundance festival as an adaptation of Cesc Gay’s 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs. Wilde directs and stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. The film sees couple Joe and Angela, who are struggling with their marriage, invite their upstairs neighbours, Pína and Hawk, for an unexpected dinner gathering.
Yash Raj Films’ Alpha will screen at 238 venues this weekend. Shiv Rawali’s Hindi-language action film is the first female-led thriller of the YRF Spy Universe. Starring Uday Chopra and Ishita Moitra as an unlikely assassin duo, the two unite to dismantle a secret soldier programme while battling ruthless enemies.
Nirvanna: The Band The Show The Movie opens in 78 venues for Vertigo Releasing. Matt Johnson’s mockumentary was the winner of the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at the Toronto film festival in 2025. Johnson and Jay McCarrol co-star as members of Nirvanna: The Band who accidentally travel back in time to 2008.
Curzon’s My Fathers Island will launch in 17 cinemas across the UK and Ireland this weekend. French director Vladimir de Fontenay’s Norwegian survival drama is adapted from US author David Vann’s semi-autobiographical set of stories Legend Of A Suicide. The film premiered at the Sundance 2025, with its alternative title Sukkwan Island. The film stars Woody Norman as the 13-year-old son of his estranged father Tom, played by Swann Arlaud. The pair attempts to confront the trauma of their relationship amidst the harsh winter of the Norwegian Fjords.
Laurent Tirard’s French comedy Oh My Goodness! will open in three cinemas through Tull Stories as part of its international comedy strand ‘Joy of Cinema’. Starring Valérie Bonneton, the film follows five nuns determined to win the cash prize of a cycling race in order to renovate a hospice in decline, the only catch being none of them can ride a bike.
Janay Bolous and Abd Alkader Habak’s documentary Birds Of War is opening for Dogwoof. Following its world premiere at Sundance 2026, the film won the documentary special jury award for journalistic impact. It went on to win awards at the Seattle, Thessaloniki and Visions du Reel film festivals. Told through 13 years of archival footage, the film traces the evolving relationship between Bolous, a Lebanese journalist, and Alkader Habak, a Syrian activist, as they report on the Syrian conflict.
Further releases include Sunny Malik’s Nagabandham - The Secret Treasure, released by Zee Studios, and Park Circus’ Taxi Driver 4K restoration screening for its 50th anniversary.
Key holdovers include Toy Story, Supergirl, Disclosure Day, and Jackass: Best And Last.
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