20 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Minions

They may live to serve, but the Minions have been ruling at the box office for quite some time. Their first movie, Despicable Me, was a surprise critical and commercial success for new animation studio Illumination Entertainment, and Despicable Me 2 did even better, earning almost a billion dollars at the box office and becoming the most profitable picture in Universal Pictures' century-long history.

The Minions can't take credit for all that success, though: some of it belongs to Gru, the likeable archvillain who's the title character in the Despicable films. The comedic voice acting of Steve Carell and Gru's heartwarming transitions to husband and father were major factors in the first two movies' success, even if retroactively it's the yellow guys everyone associates with the films.

And, with the latest entry in the franchise, the Minions get to stand on their own. And standing on their own they are, dominating the box office.

Any entertaining blockbuster has its share of hidden secrets - almost invisible Easter eggs, details and ideas that inform the production, and ways the project could have gone. The Minions series is no different. Here are 20 intriguing, unusual and otherwise brain-tickling facts about the three major movies to date.

Yeah. It happened on July 4 in the UK. "It's just spiralled out of control," said the bride, Sam Finan. "We were... talking about themes and it just came up in conversation. We had a laugh about it. At first it was just going to be the cake. Then it was cuff links. Then the place cards. It has got a little out of hand."

Perhaps a little. Guests were given Minion masks and ushered down the aisle by a Minion mascot. The theme extended to confetti and balloons, too. The bride didn't end up wearing yellow and blue... but the groom (Bob Thomas), bridesmaids and groomsmen did. Thomas even got a picture of himself and his wife - as Minions, of course - tattooed on his leg.