Universal Pictures breaks box office records with $5.53 billion global haul

All those kids in Minion costumes really add up. Universal Pictures announced Wednesday that it has grossed $5.53 billion so far in 2015. That’s the highest-grossing year ever for a movie studio, breaking 20th Century Fox’s record of $5.52 billion in 2014 — and there are still five months of 2015 left. Of that haul, $3.59 billion was made internationally, in another sign of the global box office’s importance.

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention. Universal has had hit after hit this year, and some of those have dramatically overperformed even high expectations. Jurassic World, for example, had the biggest weekend of all time, and reached $1 billion worldwide in only 13 days, another new record. Throw in Minions, Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7, and Pitch Perfect 2 (which outgrossed its predecessor in its opening weekend alone) and these huge numbers start to make sense.

It remains to be seen how the rest of the year will shake out. After all, Disney still has Star Wars: The Force Awakens waiting in the wings. But with buzz-y movies still on the plate for 2015 — such as Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak and this month’s Straight Outta Compton — the future looks bright for Universal.

•Jurassic World roars to biggest global opening of all time

•Furious 7 breaks records with $143.6 million debut

•Minions nabs $115 million, second biggest animated opening ever