From 'Minions' to millions: the animated film beats Toy Story 3 for biggest opening weekend

Universal and Illumination Entertainment's Minions had made it as the second biggest animated movie when it was first shown in cinemas on July 12, ending the week with $115.2M next to Shrek the Third ($121.6M) in 2007 and beating Toy Story 3 ($110.3M) in 2010.

Universal's much-loved animated movie had earned approximately $115.2 million as it debuted on Thursday night with 6pm pre-shows. The Minions soared high opening at number one starting out as the second biggest opening weekend in animated film history, Rotten Tomatoes reported the figure.

More to that, the Deadline specified that Minions thumps out the classic animated film Toy Story 3 in 2010 which bagged $110.3M in 4,028 cinemas. The movie sequel launch is a huge success averaging $26,784 from 4,301 locations in the history of animated films, second only to Shrek the Third's $121.6 million released in May 2007.

Minions earned twice as much as Despicable Me where minions used to be the supporting characters in 2010 when the latter grossed $56.4 million. The first Minion movie was launched following the long weekend for the Fourth of July holiday in 2013 with $143.1 million in five days plus $83.5 million throughout the weekend.

Minions continually run wild across foreign countries as well, lifting up $124.3 million worldwide. It has gained $280.5 million across the globe merging with America's triumphant sales summing up with $395.7 million.

Statistics reflect how influential the film has been in some countries: In Mexico, its opening week of $19.7 million made it the 2nd biggest for any movie release along with Russia at $14.3 million. Best of all, the movie's launch in Argentina made it the highest grossing film with $5.6 million, accroding to Cartoon Brew.

A Rentrak Corporation box office analyst, Paul Dergarabedian aptly summed up the winning formula for the film's success: "Great marketing, a perfect release date and multiple high-profile product tie-ins". The threee elements made the film a guaranteed hit easily making it "one of the most perfectly realized movie spin-offs ever", he told CNN Money.