Exclusive: FX Picks Up Despicable Me 2, The Heat and Other Movies

FX has continued its summer movie spending spree, landing the commercial TV rights to the Independence Day weekend box office champ Despicable Me 2.

Beyond Despicable Me 2, FX has also picked up the Sandra Bullock/Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat; the Brad Pitt zombie thriller World War Z; and the Channing Tatum/Jamie Foxx action flick White House Down.

The films will all be available for FX's various networks (FX, FXX and FXM) by mid-to-late 2015. FX execs were particularly pleased with the purchase of Despicable Me 2, as animated features work well for cable networks during the holidays.

Despicable Me 2 has already grossed $143 million at the U.S. box office during the long five-day holiday weekend. The sequel scored one of the best openings ever for an animated film.

Box Office: Despicable Me 2 Easily Tops The Lone Ranger

After three weeks, World War Z has pulled in nearly $160 million domestically, while The Heat's two-week tally is $86 million. And while White House Down is a box office disappointment (just $50 million after two weeks), FX execs believe the feature will attract TV audiences that missed it in theaters.

The buys also represent a vast cross-section of movie types, and come from a wide variety of studios: Universal (Despicable Me 2), 20^th Century Fox (The Heat), Paramount (World War Z) and Sony (White House Down).

FX has been busy grabbing many of this summer's most high-profile films, having previously nabbed Man of Steel, Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Purge, This is The End, The Internship, Epic, Iron Man 3 and Pain and Gain.

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