10) Minions
Worldwide Box Office: $1.1 Billion (#5)
Yes, this movie really did make it not only into the Top 5, but the elusive $1 billion club as well (which is admittedly becoming more common these days). Despite a mixed response from critics, parents flocked to take their kids to see these loveable yellow buffoons, and like a lot of animated features intended for a fairly young audience, it ended up being far from anything special (and not a patch on Despicable Me).
Of course, as children were the intended audience, it’s fair to say that Minions succeeded in doing what it was made for by entertaining the young ones for ninety minutes. That’s probably the best thing you can say about the movie, as the story failed to deliver much in terms of the emotional stakes we’ve come to expect from Pixar (and even Disney Animation), and the Minions themselves didn’t exactly make for the most compelling leads.
[zergpaid]Still, with $1 billion in box office receipts, we haven’t seen the last of these guys. Despicable Me 3 is scheduled for 2017 and Minions‘ after-credits scene certainly left the door open to a follow-up, which you have to believe is almost a guarantee at this point.
It’s interesting though that despite all of the big budget blockbusters and superhero movies, kids can still turn a film like this into one of the biggest releases of 2015.