Minions shatters box-office records because Gen Z is obsessed with it
Reader, I have never seen a Minions movie. But that's never stopped me from delighting in the myriad joys of its babbling Twinkie-shaped underlings or Vector's orange tracksuit. One of the franchise's charms is its ability to transcend language and culture, to unite us as one Gru-tiful family. And this weekend, thanks to us, Minions: The Rise of Gru made more than $125M, a new Fourth of July weekend box office record.
The Minions marketing team has been hard at work, slapping them on everything from Liberty Mutual ads to bags of salad. And across TikTok and Twitter, Gen Z has embraced the eccentricities of that marketing strategy and transformed the movie into a meme. In the last week, minions have been everywhere online. We broke down how it all happened because one thing's for sure:
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The Gentleminions
On June 16, Lyrical Lemonade's Cole Bennett tweeted that he had been given permission to use artist Yeat's music for a version of the movie's trailer. He dropped that trailer, which featured Yeat's "Rich Minion" over the intelligible blabbering of the actual minions, on the Lyrical Lemonade YouTube channel on June 28.
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TikTok user bill.hirst used the song as background music for a video of his gaggle of guy friends dressing up in suits and going to the theatre to see the film together. Thus, the Gentleminion — a combination of "gentleman" and "Minion"— was born.
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Hirst's video currently has more than 35M views and inspired a slew of other creators to dress up and see the movie. The Hype House posted their version, as did MrBeast.
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Tickets to Minions: The Rise of Gru, please
On Twitter, fans combined Gentleminions with the "Tickets to X, please" meme that gained popularity after the release of The Joker, grabbing photos of their favorite characters or celebs in suits.
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Moonions A.K.A The Minion Cult
On June 29 or 30, TikTok user hutchbucketz dressed up as a minion, raised a glowing orb into the sky, and called on viewers to join his cult, the "Moonions." TikTok users began changing their avatars to his photo and flooding comments of other TikTok videos with banana emojis.
The soundtrack
Back in May, Jack Antonoff announced that he had produced the soundtrack of the movie, featuring covers of '70s hits from Diana Ross, Brockhampton, Kali Uchis, Phoebe Bridgers, Jackson Wang, Thundercat, and more.
On July 1, Antonoff tweeted again about his involvement, drawing attention to the release and prompting reactions to its impressive lineup.
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Everything else
Just as the Minion franchise escapes categorization — is it a film for children or adults? Gen Z or Gen Alpha? — so have its memes. So here's a sample of all the other ways the film crept into our text posts and timelines.
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Elizabeth is a digital culture reporter covering the internet's influence on self-expression, fashion, and fandom. Her work explores how technology shapes our identities, communities, and emotions. Before joining Mashable, Elizabeth spent six years in tech. Her reporting can be found in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, TIME, and Teen Vogue. Follow her on Instagram here.
