The hit Universal Studios film, Minions, opened in China over the weekend and it is continuing to pull in the audiences and the revenue. The animated flick pulled in $20.1 million dollars on its opening day. That pushed the film over $1 billion ($1.08) earned so far, making Minions the second highest grossing film -- ever. The Disney film, Frozen, sits at number 1, having earned $1.27 billion.
The film was destined to be special from the beginning. It exploded box office numbers out of the gate. According to EW.com, "After debuting in July, Minions earned the second biggest opening for an animated movie, bringing in $115.7 million domestically and falling just short of Shrek the Third's $121.6 million. To date, Minions has made more than $331 million domestically." Certainly, the cash cow will start paying out again when it becomes available for rental and to purchase.
Minions' $20.1 million opening was a 50% increase over the previous record holder, Kung Fu Panda 2 and a 40% increase over the three day take for Despicable Me 2. A cool little comparison comes via Deadline.com: "On a local currency basis, Minions' first day out is also notably 44% bigger than the three-day opening of Chinese summer hit Monkey King: Hero Is Back (86.5M yuan) which on September 9 set a record as the highest-grossing Chinese animation of all time at 995M yuan ($156M)."
Minions is the latest Hollywood film to gain entrance into China after the Communist government imposed a blackout of American films which was finally lifted last month. It will have further opportunities in China as it makes its way into the interior of the country. A challenger to Minions in China (for the family at least) comes in the form of Pixels, which is set to be released on Tuesday.
© 2024 Classicalite All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
