--- description: Second-largest opening for an animated film. title: ‘Minions’ a Massive Hit at This Weekend’s Box Office image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14912f1576375a6e/69885a9c196cf426c3037131/gettyimages-478823354.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # ‘Minions’ a Massive Hit at This Weekend’s Box Office by [John Kell / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## John Kell / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2015 2:20 PM CUT  LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 27: A general view is shown at the premiere of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's "Minions" at the Shrine Auditorium on June 27, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 27: A general view is shown at the premiere of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's "Minions" at the Shrine Auditorium on June 27, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Kevin Winter—Getty Images by [John Kell / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## John Kell / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2015 2:20 PM CUT Tiny yellow “Minions” topped this weekend’s box office, pulling in a reported $115.2 million in North America alone and earning the second-largest opening for an animated film in history. The Universal Pictures film, which is a prequel spinoff to “Despicable Me,” fell a [tad short](http://variety.com/2015/film/news/box-office-minions-dominates-with-115-2-million-debut-1201538640/ "undefined") of the domestic record set in 2007 by another animated film sequel – “Shrek the Third.” That film earned $121.6 million in its opening weekend, according to _Variety_. The strong start for “Minions” comes despite some ho-hum reviews for the film, which is the third tied to the Despicable Me franchise. It only earned “mixed to average” [reviews](http://www.metacritic.com/movie/minions "undefined"), according to review aggregator Metacritic, and the user score of 6.4 out of 10 wasn’t much better. The film features the voices of Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock and “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm. One area where the Minions characters are expected to also be a huge hit – the toy aisle. Observers have said that Minions are a property that [plays well](http://fortune.com/2015/06/13/jurassic-world-to-bring-an-early-christmas-to-the-toy-industry/ "undefined") across both genders and multiple age groups, which is helping the figures win key shelf space on shelves this year. It is expected to be one of the better-performing licensed toy properties for 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3955372/minions-hit-at-boxoffice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3955372/minions-hit-at-boxoffice/"},"headline":"‘Minions’ a Massive Hit at This Weekend’s Box Office","datePublished":"2015-07-13T14:20:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:11:22.807Z","description":"Second-largest opening for an animated film.","url":"https://time.com/3955372/minions-hit-at-boxoffice/","keywords":["movies","Box-office","Toys","Universal","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14912f1576375a6e/69885a9c196cf426c3037131/gettyimages-478823354.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"John Kell / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14912f1576375a6e/69885a9c196cf426c3037131/gettyimages-478823354.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Universal Pictures And Illumination Entertainment's \"Minions\" - Red Carpet","caption":"Premiere Of Universal Pictures And Illumination Entertainment's \"Minions\" - Red Carpet","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3955372/minions-hit-at-boxoffice/","name":"‘Minions’ a Massive Hit at This Weekend’s Box Office"}}]}] ```