They may be called Minions but they're certainly no dolts as Gru's lovable lackeys conquered the box office this weekend by raking in an eye-popping $115.2 million in ticket sales in North America alone. This makes their eponymous film, Minions, the second-highest grossing opening for an animated flick in movie land history.
Despite missing the $121.6 million domestic record for sales set by 2007's Shrek the Third, the much-awaited spinoff in the Despicable Me franchise was able to edge out other big hits such as Toy Story 3's $110.3 million sales as well as Shrek 2's $108 million.
This year's Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures outing also continues animated film genius Chris Meledandri's hot streak at the theaters.
Cinema experts believe Meledandri's Midas touch at the box office can be credited to his ability to keep film budgets low. The $74-million production budget for Minions is a far cry from the $100 million that fellow animated film studios DreamWorks Animation and Pixar regularly gobble up to produce animated flicks.
Universal Pictures' domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou said that moviegoers are not too mindful about how much a film costs to produce, but rather they are more concerned about how the film resonates. He said that Meledandri's animated films are able to establish a connection with families, children and other people in general.
Other memorable animated features produced by Meledandri include Horton Hears a Who! (2008), The Lorax (2012), the Ice Age franchise (2002 and 2006) and the Despicable Me franchise (2010 and 2013). A second sequel to Despicable Me is set to be released in June 2017.
The current success of Minions is also attributed to Universal's unwavering efforts to remind people why they love the bungling, banana-looking blokes. According to reports, the film studio teamed up with McDonald's, Amazon and even Snapchat to send out promotions and publicity for the film worth close to $600 million.
Carpou said that references to the Minions could be found almost everywhere during the weekend leading up to the film's opening. The cultural currency of the characters would allow them to exist even without having an animated feature attached to them, he said.
The crowd during the opening weekend of Minions consisted of a demographic of 60 percent families, 59 percent female and 55 percent below age 25.
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