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Why TikTok Teens Are Wearing Suits to Watch the New “Minions”

“Minions 2: The Rise of Gru” was a hit on its opening weekend. The latest film in the Despicable Me franchise of an alleged villain and his bizarre yellow henchmen had the biggest opening ever on a July 4th holiday in the United States.

For all its success in luring audiences back to theaters, distributor Universal Pictures has, at least in part, the Gentleminions to thank.

Gentleminions are young men who film themselves dressed in formal wear, flooding theaters to see the newest “Minions” movie and screaming at the screen as if they were in the ring at “Wrestlemania”.

TikTok teens probably weren’t the audience the Illumination studio had in mind when creating the latest animated children’s movie, but they’ve become the audience in droves thanks to the viral trend — the hashtag #Gentleminions has over 22 million followers. views on the platform.

Gentleminions aren’t always welcome, however. They are showing up in theaters everywhere from the US to Australia and countries in between, causing chaos to the point where some theaters forbid them from buying tickets to “Minions” if they come dressed in suits.

If you find a Gentleminion in a “Minions” display, don’t panic – they are typically harmless. See how the weird trend came about – and how TikTok teens became the Minions’ biggest fans.

How Minions Became Ironic Icons

To understand Gentleminions, one must first understand Minions themselves.

Minions first came onto the scene when the first “Despicable Me” debuted in 2010. Immediately, viewers were drawn to the jumpsuit-clad creatures that served the villain turned mole Gru.

With the likes of Kevin and Bob, a penchant and a totally unique delivery of the word “banana”, the Minions have endeared themselves to audiences across generations – including Facebook users of a certain age, some of whom began sharing Minions memes that they convey the ungrateful exhaustion of parenthood.

And then there are the ironic Minion memes, the ones shared by irreverent youth and jaded adults.

Minions, these users plead, are funny because they’re not funny, but they’re so bland that the same memes have become funny again. Somehow, within this cycle of seriousness and irony, the Minions became what they always strived to be: comedy legends.

Now, in 2022, the kids who grew up with the Minions are now young adults and very fluent on the internet. Enter the Gentleminions.

Gentleminions wear suits and do light damage

To be a Gentleminion, one must arrive at the movies in formal attire – usually a suit and tie. So, after purchasing a ticket for “Minions 2: Rise of Gru”, you should film before, during and after the movie to demonstrate your excitement.

It takes cheering, jumping for joy, and generally interrupting the viewing experience to inhabit Gentleminion. And then, of course, you need to post your tour on TikTok, setting the clip to a song called “Rich Minion” by rapper Yeat.

Why dress up for a movie night? Bill Hirst, an Australian teenager whose Gentleminions video has garnered millions of views, told Variety it was all “just for fun” after he and his friends saw another group of boys on TikTok wearing suits to the movies.

“We just put on our suits and went straight to the theaters,” he said. “It was very spontaneous.”

In some cases, though, the Gentleminions’ near-innocent revelry has turned sour. The only cinema in Guernsey, British Isles, had to cancel showings of the film after a tribe of gentlemen vandalized the cinema and caused some children at the screenings to leave in tears, its manager told the BBC.

Some American theaters have also seen vandalism: A representative for a major theater chain that was not authorized to speak officially told the Los Angeles Times that its employees were alerted to the trend after some Gentleminions caused minor property damage, though it currently has no rules. to stop them from seeing the movie.

Some theaters exclude them, but the Minions support their fans

Movie theaters have been the favorite domains of many boisterous teenagers, but the Gentleminions have pushed many theaters to their limits. In the UK, several cinemas have banned certain young people from buying tickets for the film as a result of the chaos in Guernsey and elsewhere, the Guardian reported.

One movie theater said it would not admit “unaccompanied children in suits” who came to see the Minions play pranks.

It remains to be seen whether American theaters will take the same steps to contain the chaos. THE CNN has reached out to national chains AMC, Regal and Cinemark to comment on their response to the Gentleminions trend and is awaiting a response.

Meanwhile, Universal Pictures has embraced the Gentleminions wholeheartedly: in a tweet last week, the company wrote, “To everyone who shows up to @Minions in a suit: See you and love you.”

The Minions themselves even sent the Gentleminions a video greeting on TikTok, wishing them “Bobspeed.”

Source: CNN Brasil

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