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The Minions: The Rise Of Gru has brought smiles to the faces of millions, but not without upsetting a few movie theaters. Released on July 1st, the sequel to the spin-off prequel of the 2015 movie, Minions, tells the story of how Gru becomes a super villain. Since its release, teenagers, and even adults have participated in the viral trend #Gentleminions, which led to select theater issues bans to audience members in formal wear.
Nostalgic teenagers and young adults that have been following the Despicable Me franchise have been packing the movie theaters after a long COVID-19 pandemic. With their help, it has become the most successful July 4th movie opening ever, bringing in over $125 million in the US and Canada over the weekend, per QZ. The previous record was held by Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, which collected $115 million in 2011.
Moviegoers are bringing their creativity to the next level when it comes to the #gentleminions trend. There have been flash mobs, hundreds of bananas getting snuck in, and organized chaos that has even ended in the police showing up. According to Sky News, in Britain, The Regal movie theater wrote in a since-deleted statement, “We are currently not admitting unaccompanied children wearing suits for ‘Minions: The Rise Of Gru.’” ”This is due to the issues we have encountered over the last two days and its associated behaviour,” they added.
While the hurling of bananas can be a little too much, with all the other horrible things kids could be doing, is seeing a movie with friends really something we should try and stop? Universal Pictures has shown their support for the trend, tweeting “to everyone showing up to Minions in suits: we see you and we love you.” The Minions TikTok account has also called on viewers with a montage of kids in suits with the words, “Your day has come.”
With Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Russell Brand, and Julie Andrews, you still have plenty of time to catch the movie in theaters. In the meantime, check out more of gentleminions videos below.