I have some bad news for fans of the dumb little yellow helpers known as Minions from the Despicable Me franchise. While it was originally announced that the characters would be getting their own spin-off movie in December 2014, today it's been revealed that the title has been pushed back more than half a year. According to Box Office Mojo, Universal Pictures have bumped their previously announced Untitled Illumination Entertainment 2015 Project to February 12, 2016 and have moved Minions to July 10, 2015.
While 2015 is set to be a big year for live-action blockbusters, with movies like The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: Episode VII, Batman vs. Superman, Jurassic World, Bond 24, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and more scheduled to come out, but it's also set to be a big year for animation. Prior to Minions joining the line-up the calendar already included SpongeBob SquarePants 2, The Penguins of Madagascar, B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, Inside Out, Hotel Transylvania 2, Kung Fu Panda 3 and the recently added The Good Dinosaur (which replaced Finding Dory, which has been pushed back to 2016).
Previous reports have said that the movie will be set all the way back in the 1960s - long before the minions teamed up with Steve Carell's Gru. The story will follow three of the little yellow guys as they search for a new master to serve. They wind up working for a supervillain named Scarlet Overkill (who will be voiced by Sandra Bullock) and her husband Herb Overkill (voiced by Jon Hamm). Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin are serving as directors on the film, while Brian Lynch, who previously scripted the direct to video Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem 3D as well as the live-action/animation hybrid Easter Bunny movie Hop, is handing the screenplay.
Even though the minions have proven to be insanely popular among young audiences, moving the film into July 2015 is similar to diving into a shark tank. While it currently doesn't have any competition on the July 10th weekend, the week before it will see the release of both Terminator and Independence Day 2, while the week later will see the theatrical premiere of the aforementioned Batman vs. Superman. It's entirely possible that all of these movies will just end up trampling each other and that nobody will end up a winner, but we won't know if that will be the case for another 22 months.
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