Minions vanquish competition on way to S$160 million

And “Despicable Me 2” grossed $30 million on Friday night in 2013, proving that the “Minions” on their own are much more of a crowd-pleaser. And then creators of Despicable Me Duology announced a separate film for Minions. There are many times where Gru and the girls were missed, which just goes to show that those characters are truly the heart of the Despicable Me films.

UPDATE: “Minions” is heading for a powerful performance at the USA box office with a whopping $118 million opening weekend, according to late Friday afternoon forecasts.

“Minions” chattered its way to $46 million on Friday from 4,301 screens, on track for an impressive debut weekend north of $120 million for Universal and Illumination Entertainment. Also of note is that three of these four films have all been released by Universal, a studio that is having a terrific, wonderful, so good, very fantastic year. With a reported budget of $100,000, this film followed the Blumhouse model of development and marketing, and while it won’t necessarily be as huge as some of the company’s other hits, (Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge), it will nonetheless get the job done.

Earlier Friday estimates had placed the 3D animated slapstick comedy at about $110 million, but that number was revised upwards several hours later.

This weekend’s third new offering is Gramercy Pictures’ sci-fi thriller Self/less starring Ryan Reynolds. Bad reviews did the film no favor, although at least you can expect something that looks a little different than usual with Tarsem Singh at the helm.

Friday’s top 5 was rounded out by “Terminator Genisys“, which pulled in $4 million. France opened with $6.2 million in two days, and Russian Federation launched with $3.8 million Thursday – setting records for top opening day for Universal titles in those markets.

But “Minions” was the weekend’s big story – and the “A” rating it got from theatergoers polled by CinemaScore suggests the film will have real staying power. “Minions” proved plenty of people wanted to have an early viewing of the film, raking in $6.2 million at 2,985 US locations. A weekend total of $12.3 million seems reasonable here. Magic Mike XXL, on the other hand, will only see a small dip in attendance. Its three-day total should come in at $10.8 million.