Despicable Me 2 and the Minions triumph at UK box office

Palmed off on kids: Steve Carell voices Gru in 'Despicable Me 2', a sequel with nothing for adults

Animated sequel Despicable Me 2 has dominated the UK box office on its debut week taking more than rebooted Superman film Man of Steel made on its first weekend.

The follow-up to 2010 film Despicable Me took £14.8 million at British cinemas, making up almost two-thirds of the entire top 15 box office performance.

By comparison Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, took £3.6 million on its debut weekend. It is currently in second place on the UK and Ireland top five, having made £26.2 million in the three weeks since its release.

Despicable Me 2 stars Steve Carrell, who provides the voice for a dysfunctional father named Gru , alongside Kirsten Wiig as his sidekick, Lucy Wilde.

It also features favourites from the first film, The Minions, small yellow henchman who have existed since the beginning of time, who are set to get their own spin-off film.

The reviews have been largely favourable although some have bemoaned the lack of adult humour.

The Independent’s Anthony Quinn wrote: “Kids will love the Minions, one-eyed, egg-shaped creatures that speak a weird nonsense lingo, though there’s not much to tickle adults.”

Financial Times critic Nigel Andrews described it as "like the second helping of over-rich cake pressed on you at a children's birthday party, when you didn't want the first. Kids (of all ages) may love it, though."

The original film was a worldwide hit amassing over $543 million (£355 million) at the box office. The Hollywood Reporter predicts the sequel could make $110 million globally by Sunday.

In the UK and Ireland top five Brad Pitt’s zombie apocalypse movie World War Z was just pipped by Man of Steel to take third place with takings of £2.42 million.

New entries this week include Seth Rogen’s star-stuffed comedy This Is The End, which made £1.3 million to take fourth place, and Hummingbird starring Jason Statham at number five.