Why Did Megamind Flop? Blame a Little Movie Called Despicable Me

Released in November 2010 with a $130 million budget and a stacked voice cast — Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, David Cross — it looked like another sure-fire hit for the studio behind Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. Instead, it topped out at $321.8 million worldwide, far from a disaster but seen as an underperformance compared to Pixar's The Incredibles ($631 million) or even DreamWorks' own How to Train Your Dragon earlier that same year.

Box office breakdown:

• Domestic: $148.5 million ($196.5M adjusted)
• International: $173.4 million
• Worldwide: $321.8 million
• Budget: $130 million
• Ancillary sales: another $80–100 million from DVD and Blu-ray

So why didn't it take off? The short answer from fans and box office watchers: Despicable Me.

A timing problem

Despicable Me had premiered just four months earlier, with Steve Carell's Gru and those yellow Minions immediately becoming cultural fixtures.

"It came out a few months after Despicable Me so I think a lot of people saw it as a knock-off version of that movie," one fan wrote.

Another put it more bluntly: "Despicable Me and those bloody Minions ate its lunch."

Even small details reinforced the perception. As one commenter pointed out, "It even had Megamind's sidekick name be Minion."

Fans also recall that DreamWorks' trailers didn't sell what made the film unique.

"The marketing made it look like a VERY generic superhero parody," one user said. Another added,

"They really only showed clips of the first 20 minutes of the movie. It was unclear what the movie was ABOUT aside from its concept."

For audiences already saturated with animated releases, Megamind failed to stand out.

Timing was brutal.

DreamWorks released How to Train Your Dragon in March and Shrek Forever After in May, both heavily marketed studio priorities. Pixar's Toy Story 3 dominated summer box office with over $1 billion, and Disney's Tangled opened the same month as Megamind.

Add Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 to the November slate, and the blue-headed villain-turned-hero was boxed out of the cultural conversation.

2010 was a huge year for family-friendly animation, and Megamind just failed to stick out in a crowded market.

Mixed reception at the time

Though reviews were positive, they weren't glowing. Some audiences thought it looked cheap next to its competition.

"It doesn't look unique in any way, and cheaper animation/design wise to Despicable Me," one commenter remembered.

Another was harsher: "Megamind is just kinda ugly… having your film focused on a weird looking blue skinned guy with a big head isn't very appealing to kids."