If you liked Despicable Me 2 , you can be assured there will be a third film after Universal revealed that the movie is their most profitable ever.
This means we will be seeing the adorable little minions in everything from TV ads, to cereal boxes, to more movies, and even possibly a TV show, although nothing is in writing yet.
It’s is hard to believe that this low budget movie, relatively speaking, is the studio’s most profitable film to date.
Here’s the breakdown. Despicable Me 2 had a modest budget of $76 million and so far it has made $663.5 million. That is what you call a profit.
It is also a low budget, even for an animated film. Turbo and The Croods both cost $135 million, while Epic had a budget of $100 million, so by all comparisons $76 million is pretty good.
So where does the studio go from here? There will be another sequel, we can bet on that. Universal will keep making more minions if this film is any indication of what the public wants to see.
This year has seen much success for franchises, such as Iron Man 3. Man Of Steel appears to be the beginning of a Superman franchise with the announcement of a Superman/Batman movie yet to be titled.
That announcement came to the delight of millions at Comic-Con 2013, when Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill said they would be partnering again for the film.
Notwithstanding the successes of franchises, studios must thread carefully because at some point the public will tire of seeing the same thing over and over.
One of the big flops this summer was The Lone Ranger, which was almost a sure pick for a franchise, with Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer teaming up. That probably won’t happen.
Universal recently partnered with Legendary Pictures who has a strong presence with original material.
Are you surprised that Despicable Me 2 is Universal’s most profitable film ever?