Universal has scored another incredible box office success this weekend, all thanks to those annoying little yellow pill-shaped sidekicks from Despicable Me. The Minions movie smashed the competition this weekend, even opening better than Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out did a few weeks ago.
Minions opened with an estimated $115.2 million domestically, which was much better than either of the Despicable Me movies. The second film in the series grossed $83.5 million on opening weekend in 2013.
It was clear that the film was going to dominate the box office right away, as it earned $6.3 million.
Despite the huge opening, the film did fall a bit short of the all-time animated box office champion. As Variety notes, 2007’s Shrek The Third still holds that distinction with a $121.6 million launch.
Universal kicked its marketing and publicity departments into high gear for the film, which features the voices of Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm and Michael Keaton for the human characters. Bloomberg reports that the studio spent an astonishing $593 million to promote the movie.
Jurassic World held the second spot for the second consecutive week with $18.1 million. It is now up to $590.6 million domestically and hasn’t fallen lower than No. 2 since its release on June 12.
Inside Out fell to third with $17.1 million, while Paramount’s Terminator Genisys only made $13.7 million after two weeks. The big-budget Terminator reboot has only made $68.7 million domestically so far. Warner Bros.’ horror film The Gallows opened to $10 million.
Last weekend’s other big opener, Magic Mike XXL, fell to sixth with $9.6 million. Ryan Reynolds’ Self/less only grossed $5.3 million on its opening weekend.
image of Sandra Bullock courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com