‘Minions’ is Universal’s Most Profitable Film Ever

The rise of the minions began swiftly and without warning. The three babbling, yellow fire hydrants with glasses infiltrated every crevice of daily life in a matter of a few days and boy, did they have staying power. Universal Studios’ pervasive marketing technique almost overshadowed the fact that there was ever a Minions movie—or so I thought.

Apparently the bespectacled fire hydrant-inspired balloons, plush toys, and E-cigs were more effective than we could’ve imagined, because according to Comcast, Minions Is Universal’s most successful film of all time in terms of cost of production compared to ticket sales.

The movie is the third in the Despicable Me series. And although the first two held their own at the box office, the latest installment grossed more than $1 billion worldwide in 2015—surpassing Universal’s other blockbusters _Jurassic World_and Furious 7 to be the company’s most profitable movie ever, mostly because it cost far less to make than either of those live-action spectacles.

You may have scoffed when your wacky aunt was posting all those inspirational minion memes to Facebook, but apparently she was onto something. Those little trash receptacles will one day come to define the year 2015—nay, dare we say, the entire decade.