EXCLUSIVE: This is the reason that Universal Studios president/COO Ron Meyer and his team trekked to Arkansas last week for a personal visit to the Wal-Mart headquarters. I’ve just learned that Universal’s first family film/toon unit from Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me made first-day sales on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital downloads of nearly $25 million Tuesday. What made the difference was the exclusive debut of three all-new mini-movies on the DVD Double Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack and 3D Combo Pack starring the film’s wildly popular Minions. The mega-hit animated family comedy sold well over one million units to consumers (excluding rentals) in its first 24 hours of release and is poised to become the 2nd biggest-grossing animated home entertainment title of the year. The movie has already grossed $500+M in worldwide box office.

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