MINIONS descended on a cinema to meet residents from across the county.

The yellow cartoon characters visited Festival Leisure Park in Basildon to celebrate the opening of their new film, Minions.

Made famous in Despicable Me and the sequel, the brightly coloured characters met residents for photos.

Matthew Chambers, centre manager at Festival Leisure Park, said: “It was fantastic to welcome the Minions in style this weekend – not only did our visitors catch them on the big screen at Empire, but got to take home a picture of them on our green screen. It was a fantastic weekend all round.”

Parent Louise Shelley, from Wickford, said: “The kids loved all the Minions fun at Festival Leisure Park last weekend.

“The film is great for families and grown-ups of all ages, and we loved getting our picture done with them, too.”

The new film Minions follows on from the smash hit Despicable Me 2, Empire Cinemas Basildon’s biggest film in 2013.

Minions Kevin, Stuart and Bob venture into the world to find a new evil boss to follow.

Families also posed in front of the green screen with a trio of minions near the Empire Cinema, which is screening the film in 2D and 3D. All the green screen pictures are now up on the Festival Leisure Park Facebook page. You can pick the top three pictures, for the chance to win prizes.