'Minions' tracking for $85 million opening at box office
The funny little yellow guys of Universal's "Minions" are looking at a lot of green — around $85 million to be specific — when they open at the box office on July 10.
The first tracking for the animated family film from Illumination Entertainment arrived Thursday and confirmed what most analysts had thought: "Minions" will be a monster, and likely bigger than its predecessors. And it's very possible that the projection will rise over the next few weeks as the effects of Universal's marketing campaign kick in.
The PG-rated film is set up well, and will open against the Focus Features thriller "Self/Less" and the New Line horror film "The Gallows." And Pixar's "Inside Out," which opens Friday, will have been in theaters for a month at that point.
"Despicable Me 2," the most recent film in the franchise from which "Minions" is spun, took in $970 million at the worldwide box office in 2013. It did $368 million domestically after opening to $83.5 million in July.
"Despicable Me" debuted with $56.3 million in July 2010 and went on to take in $252 million domestically and $543 million globally, setting up the sequel and the spinoff, which gives the little yellow guys their own movie. "Despicable Me 3" is set for June of 2017.
Pierre Coffin, who co-directed the "Despicable Me" movies with Chris Renaud, is on board for "Minions." Sandra Bullock, John Hamm, Michael Keaton and Steve Coogan provide the voices in the film, which is produced by Janet Healy, Chris Meledandri, chief executive at Illumination Entertainment, and Renaud.
"Minions" opened this week in its first two foreign markets. It debuted at No. 1 in Indonesia and in second place in Australia, behind Universal's "Jurassic World," for a $987,716 total.
"Minions" was originally scheduled to roll out in December of last year, but Universal shifted it to this summer to play to a potentially larger audience with kids out of school and to allow more time to coordinate merchandising efforts.
The products push appears to be clicking too. The Minions now appear on everything from a blimp to banana-scented fart blasters.
More from TheWrap:
'Minions' Trailer Teases Origin for Popular 'Despicable Me' Characters (Video)
'Planes 2' Taking Flight in Bummer Year for Animated Movies at Box Office
Could 'Jurassic World' Overtake 'Avatar' as All-Time Box-Office King?
