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With regards to the film's box office, I think Reagen's point is well taken. I said a few weeks ago that I thought Despicable Me 2 could wind up the #2 film this summer. I am disgusted by the recent exploitation of Disney's struggles via the pretense that The Lone Ranger had been the favorite. I didn't know anyone who thought it was the favorite last weekend. The Lone Ranger failed enough on its own. We don't need to invent stuff for which its creators should apologize.

As for Max's wrongness about Despicable Me, I have torches and pitchforks for all of our readers to grab on their way to that dank warren he thinks is a hidey-hole.

Kim Hollis: I was really surprised at one point last week when I saw someone say something along the lines of "I think people are really underestimating Despicable Me 2." I have no idea how anyone who has been paying attention would have believed this movie would be anything less than huge. Maybe if you don't have kids, I guess, but I don't have any and I was fully aware of this movie in every possible way. The marketing was brilliant, and the first film was one of those that snuck up on you with its charm. Yes, this is a huge success but to say that this is any sort of upset or surprise just means that you're out of touch completely. I guess this shows us just how little a lot of studio execs understand audience behavior these days.

Kim Hollis: Based on what you have witnessed this week, do you believe The Minions Movie is a guaranteed blockbuster or the beginning of the end (aka "too much of a good thing") like Shrek 3?

Jay Barney: It is way too early to tell at this point. All we know is that Despicable Me II did very well this weekend, and it is likely to be a box office force for the next couple of weeks. The money equation almost ensures speculation of how well Minions will do and that is fine. Universal is certainly banking on it being huge, as they have it slotted for a Christmas 2014 release.

Brett Ballard-Beach: In terms of analogies, will it receive a boost similar to what Iron Man 3 received in the wake of The Avengers (although even that is flawed as Despicable Me 2 seems to be receiving a lot more love than Iron Man 2 did)? I think that The Minions Movie is going to be huge. Not DM2 huge, but why carp? It also may be very good. But I always think it's a bad move when the supporting characters get their own movies. Minions make good sidekicks, and as I understand, the directors packed them into every scene they could in DM2, but there is still a world of difference between that and a movie where they are the focus/protagonists solely. I guess the quality of the film will be key, and if it is lacking, it could negatively impact DM3's performance whenever that rears its head.

Edwin Davies: The idea of a Minions movie, to me, sounds like something that should go direct to DVD. Not a terrible idea given the success of the first two films, and one that would certainly do well with the target audience, but not something that could sustain a whole feature film. Basically, it is to Despicable Me what Planes is to Cars. There's always the chance that the film itself turns out to be pretty good and justifies a theatrical release, and everyone involved with the Despicable Me series has so far managed to keep the quality pretty high, but if anything was going to negatively affect the franchise in the long-run, it's probably a Minions only spin-off, which might seem like too much of an obvious cash-grab and spoil what so far is a fun distraction in a broader story. However, it'll be a pretty sizable cash-grab, and I expect that the Minions movie will do very well, especially if they keep the costs down, even if it runs the risk of hurting the series.

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