Minions grossed $46.2M on Friday, setting a new opening day record for an animated film in North America. Toy Story was the previous record-holder with $41.1 opening day.
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The Minions fast start now puts the film on course for a $121M weekend, which would be the second best opening weekend for animated film, behind Shrek the Third‘s $122.5M.
Meanwhile, Jurassic World and Inside Out duke it out once again. They are battling for second-place, both grossing $5M on Friday, with 3-day estimates coming in at $18M apiece.
Terminator Genisys is expected to plummet 52% in its second weekend for a fourth-place finish of $13M.
Minions are yellow henchmen, who have existed since the beginning of beginning, evolving from a yellow single-cell organisms into beings who have only one purpose: to serve the most ambitious villains. After their masters were destroyed, they decide to isolate themselves from the world and start a new life in Antarctica. Sometime in the 60s, the lack of a master drives them into depression, so bravest minion and two other volunteers set out to find a new one. They arrive at a villain convention, where they compete for the right to be henchmen for Scarlet Overkill, a stylish and ambitious villain determined to dominate the world and become the first female super-villain.
Minions now playing at your local theater.