Behind the rise of "Gentleminions," the teenagers wearing suits to go see the new Minions movie
The trend involves nothing more than wearing a suit to see Minions: The Rise Of Gru
Almost a decade since they first squeezed loose from the grip of the Despicable Me movies’ framework to become marquee stars in their own right, the Minions have returned once more to conquer global cinema. Not content to simply sit and watch a series of eerily smooth, jaundiced testicle-creatures chatter about bananas without properly celebrating the occasion, the release of Minions: The Rise Of Gru has also seen teenagers wearing suits to the movie in a new viral stunt.
Variety looked at this trend—which is collected on TikTok and Twitter under the hashtag #Gentleminions—and interviewed one of the first people to take part in it. Bill Hirst lives in Sydney, Australia and, when The Rise Of Gru opened in the country two weeks ago, posted a TikTok showing he and group of pals heading to the theater in suits, shaking hands with one another, steepling fingers beneath chins while seated waiting for the movie to begin, and stoically filing out after applauding its credits.
Hirst says one of his friends had seen another video of the trend when it was still just getting started and decided to go “do it just for the fun.” Since his class had “had our formal literally a couple days before that,” they were well prepared to get dressed up. When they arrived at the theater, Hirst’s group of 15 were met by another eight guys doing the same thing, which apparently keeps happening when people head out to the movie.