Sandra Bullock at the world premiere of Minions at the Odeon Leicester Square, London. Photo: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire

Minions mania hit London on Thursday, as the spin-off film starring the loveable yellow characters had its world premiere.

Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock, along with three of the main stars – Bob, Kevin and Stuart – hit the yellow carpet, as fans held signs hailing Bob as king and guests wore yellow in celebration of the Minions, who shot to fame in the Despicable Me films.

The Gravity star, who makes her villainous debut voicing Scarlet Overkill, was joined by directors Pierre Coffin and Kyle Banda outside the Odeon cinema in London’s Leicester Square.

“There’s something about London that gets everyone in a good mood. Everyone’s skipping down the carpet rather than sauntering,” she said.

Bullock, who won an Oscar in 2009 for drama The Blind Side, joked that she has more in common with her menacing alter-ego than people may expect.

“She’s more like me than anything else I’ve been in,” she said. “She’s evil, she’s crabby and a little bit bitchy – all the traits that I think make for a good villainness.”

The 50-year-old mother-of-one, who wore a paisley-print peplum dress by Stella McCartney, said her five-year-old son, Louis Bardo Bullock, inspired her to take the role.

“I wanted to make something my son could see and watch and enjoy, even though he doesn’t know what I do and he doesn’t know it’s me – I can sit in the theatre and watch him,” she revealed.

“Nothing makes me happier than hearing that boy laugh, [by] physical humour and animation so hopefully I’ll be able to do that.”

The filming worked to her advantage too. She added: “I wanted to stay home and drive him to school and they [the film-makers] said: ‘We’ll come to where you are’. I was able to drop him to school, go to work and pick him up and now he gets to watch something I did and not know I’m in it. He doesn’t know this is what I do.”

Director Banda said Bullock was the perfect villainess because she “gave a lot of dimension to the character in developing this sweet, relatable side to her so she can be really appealing – a contrast when she does something really bad”.