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Tom Houseman: There was a painfully shameless plug for Despicable Me on Last Comic Standing a couple weeks ago. I don't think the tidal wave of advertising would have mattered if they didn't make the film look good, though.

Brett Beach: Ubiquity can either be gaga fantastic or tooth-pullingly agonizing. In this case, I lean towards the former, even if I tired of the ads sometime around early May. I think the Minions are a big part of the sell for this movie and keeping them in the forefront of trailers and promotions was smart. In a way they're like cartoon creatures with mogwai and gremlin characteristics all rolled into one (cute and cuddly and obnoxious and crude). In other words, just like kids. Parents probably felt they would be laughing just as hard, if not harder at the jokes, and not simply because of pop culture bytes (a la Shrek.)

Matthew Huntley: I agree with Tom on this and believe the movie's success was conditional on two things: the ubiquity of the ads and effectiveness of the ads to make the movie look good. A studio can market a movie all they want (and we all know they do), but if their marketing can't make the source look appealing, it's all for not. If any of the ads affected me, it was the trailer that featured Gru (the main character) popping the little kid's balloon. The Minions did nothing for me, although I can't speak for all the kids who saw these cute, yellow creatures and asked their parents to take them. My conclusion: the trailers were directed toward teens and adults and the Minions were aimed at kids. It'd be interesting to get a kid's opinion on Kim's question.

David Mumpower: Minions rule. It's that simple. I am unclear on whether they are more aptly described as the Woody and Buzz of Despicable Me or the Space Aliens. Whatever the case may be, I became a fan of them on Facebook ages ago and I've been cracking up over all of the updates. The Twilight one was particularly funny. If you haven't checked it out yet, go here: http://www.facebook.com/minions

Kim Hollis: I have to agree that the Minions seem to have carried the day here, and I think they're all the more important in the word-of-mouth because people are talking about how much they enjoyed them. I think that animated movies that have hooks like this always have a great shot at pulling in audience (see also: Rhino, the hamster in a ball in Bolt).

They're kind of like animated characters anyway

Kim Hollis: Ordinarily we say that voice actors in animated films don't impact the bottom line that much, but Despicable Me took the unusual step of showing Steve Carell and Jason Segel in the commercials. Do you think this positively impacted the box office? Also, do you think either of these actors (or Russell Brand) will get a bump from the film?

Josh Spiegel: I must have missed those ads; I've seen interviews with the actors, but never that old saw of showing, in split screen, the character and respective actor performing. I don't think it matters much, really. The only actor who could get an immediate bump is Carell, as Dinner for Schmucks opens later this month. Still, I doubt the two movies will show much overlap.

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