“Minions” ruled the box office in the United States and Canada with a $115.2 million debut, easily outdistancing its competition and making it the second-biggest animated movie opening in history.
The spinoff of the “Despicable Me” movies fell just short of the animated opening weekend record set in 2007 by “Shrek the Third” with
$121 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. This opening arrived after a robust marketing campaign that found the yellow, smiling Minions on everything from McDonald's meals to Amazon.com packages.
Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, and Michael Keaton all lent their voices for Scarlett and Herb Overkill and Walter Nelson, respectively, during the Minions’ origins story that ruled the box office. “Jurassic World” finished second at $18.1 million while another animated flick, "Inside Out," pulled in $17.1 million, according to The Journal. Overall, "Jurassic World" has made $590.7 million this year while "Inside Out" has grossed $283.6 million.
“Minions” also conquered the world box office with
$124.3 million internationally, according to Deadline.com, which knocked last week's No. 1 "Terminator: Genisys” off the top. “Terminator” only made $47.3 million internationally over the week.
Variety reported that “Minions” appeared to be another win for producer Chris Meledandri, who also produced the first two "Despicable Me" movies, as well as “Ice Age: The Meltdown” and “Horton Hears a Who.” “Minions” cost $74 million to make and was less costly than many other similar movies from Pixar and DreamWorks.
“I'm not sure the public is mindful of what films cost; they're more concerned with how they resonate,” said Nick Carpou, Universal's domestic distribution chief, according to Variety. “Chris is able to produce films that speak to families, to children, to people everywhere.”
“Minions” also appeared to hit it big with the potent cross-section of females (59 percent in attendance), families (60 percent of audience), and people under 25 (55 percent), according to Variety
“With anything that opens to over $100 million, you breach all demographics,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations, according to Variety. “The ‘Minions’ are the stars of the ‘Despicable Me’ franchise . . . kids love them, teens love them, and adults love them.”
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