#Gentleminions Attendance Helps Propel ‘Rise Of Gru’ To Fourth Of July Box Office Record Showing
They aren’t your average animated movie audience, and for that they are facing bans worldwide.
Teens across the world are donning suits and ties and even scarves to attend Minions: The Rise of Gru, the latest release in Universal’s Despicable Me franchise, and many are documenting it for TikTok under the hashtag #Gentleminions.
Some of the videos posted on social media even show the crowd bowing to Minion standees situated in the lobby. The available videos show mostly male, Gen-Z moviegoers, dressed up in Gru drag, filing into cinemas.
Some have been disruptive, smoking cigars, cheering loudly, and even moshing inside the theater, leading some movie theaters in the U.K. to ban anyone in formal wear from attending, and kicking out any obnoxious attendees. One theater in Guernsey, England, cancelled all further screenings of the movie because of the teens there, blaming “stunningly bad behavior”, including vandalism, throwing objects and abusing staff, according to the BBC.
The Regal Theater in Wadebridge, Cornwall banned all “unaccompanied children wearing suits” to showings, because of the “cheering, clapping, whooping” of attendees, who apparently kept rising to their feet.
Theaters in the U.S. and Canada were not reporting similar disruptions. Cineplex spokesperson Sarah Van Lange told the CBC that Cineplex hasn’t had any reports of security incidents related to the phenomenon — just “a weekend of costumes, fun and fandom.
While I can’t give you a confirmed number, it would be safe to say that thousands of Canadians suited up this weekend to enjoy the film on the big screen,” she said.
The #Gentleminions term was coined by the franchise itself; after videos of teens in suits went viral, the official Minons account shared a video showing a Minion stuffed toy looking out of the window with videos of men in suits playing over. “Bobspeed you gentleminions,” read the caption.
Evidently, this plan has been in the works since before the movie was released. Playing on the popular 2019 “Tickets to X, Please” meme, TikTok users joked about buying tickets for the children’s movie while wearing full suits, playing to an ironic adult fandom for what is ostensibly a kids’ movie.
Whatever the reason, the movie is killing it at the box office. Minions made an estimated $125 million domestically for its four-day opening weekend, according to Universal.
That gives the film the record for biggest opening over the July 4th holiday weekend, overtaking Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which made $115 million in 2011.