We all talk about characters like Batman, Darth Vader, or Spider-Man being the kings of the box office, but the true ruler might actually be a weird yellow Minion. Since the Minions were introduced in 2010’s Despicable Me, films in that franchise and its spinoffs have grossed close to $6 billion. They’re massive. They’re also very heavily directed at a family audience. Sure, there certainly are adult fans of the Minions, but they aren’t the target audience.
I know this because I haven’t seen any of the Despicable Me or Minions movies since the first one. I liked the first one, but I never felt the need to see more of that world. And yet, with the upcoming release of the seventh film in the franchise, Minions & Monsters, for the first time, I’m actually thinking, “I kind of want to see what these Minions are up to.” Here’s the latest trailer to start.
From the very first frames of the studio logos, you see that Illumination is going for something a little different here. As described at CinemaCon, Minions and Monsters is a prequel to most of the other films, with the Minions becoming stars in old school Hollywood. That means there will be lots of way-over-the-heads-of-kids references to things like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Then, when sound is introduced, the Minions lose their fame and decide to make their own movie. Which, as we see here, is called “Minions & Monsters” and is where things get a little silly.
In other words, from the press release, “This is the rambunctious, ridiculous, and totally true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world, and then banded together to try and save the planet from the mayhem they had just created.”
That idea of the Minions not just directly embracing the comedy roots their antics are so obviously inspired by but living inside them is just very intriguing. How far can the movie references go? Will the monsters of the movie take over the old Hollywood vibes? We assume so. And yet, for the first time in 15 years, I’m honestly kind of excited for a Minions movie. I’m 46 years old.
Minions & Monsters features the voices of Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr, Trey Parker, and Pierre Coffin. It opens July 1.
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