---
title: How teens are changing the movies forever
description: "With a meme, teens have made Minions relevant for an unexpected demographic: themselves."
---

[Hustle News ](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news)

# [How teens are changing the movies forever](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/07062022-minions)

 Written by [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/jacob-cohen) | Jul 6, 2022 8:17:20 AM

This past weekend, *Minions: The Rise of Gru* went absolutely bananas at the box office.

What’s really interesting though wasn’t so much the fact that it did well, but rather *why *it did so well.

#### **Enter, the “Gentleminions”**

These are teens that have formed an international cult around a comedic bit. The bit being they ironically dress in suits and ties, see *Minions *in droves, applaud in unison, and document it all on TikTok to a [rap track](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Rich-Minion-7109284473828591617?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc).

TikTok is currently filled to the brim with **160k+** videos using the rap, and to fully grasp the trend, you’re gonna have to watch [one](https://www.tiktok.com/@bill.hirst/video/7114190265358847234) or [two](https://www.tiktok.com/@archie.barber/video/7115468524906237189).

#### **Did this actually impact *****Minions *****financially?**

It appears so. Minions blew past its [**$65m-$75m**](https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/box-office-minions-rise-of-gru-opening-weekend-estimate-1235304893/) projection, posting [**$125m+**](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1736214017/weekend/?ref_=bo_rl_tab#tabs) over the weekend, and breaking a July 4 [record](https://news.yahoo.com/minions-breaks-july-fourth-holiday-125548458.html) set by *Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon* in 2011.

Unfortunately, hoards of unaccompanied minors can also be disruptive. (Who knew!)

- Some theaters in the UK have had to issue [refunds](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61988793) to moviegoers, [cancel](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-62034821) future showings, or straight-up [refuse entry](https://twitter.com/gillduds/status/1543600645294415872) to people wearing suits (though some have tried to [sneak](https://www.tiktok.com/@joel.evans13/video/7116628338709368069?referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indy100.com%2Fviral%2Fgentleminions-ban-minions-movie&referer_video_id=7116628338709368069&refer=embed&referer_url=https://www.indy100.com/viral/gentleminions-ban-minions-movie) around it).

#### **What does this mean for movies in the future?**

According to PostTrak, [**34%**](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/minions-rise-of-gru-meme-gentleminions-1235175207/) of *The Rise of Gru*’s audience consists of 13- to 17-year-olds. That’s up from **8%** for the last *Despicable Me* movie back in 2017.

That means, with a meme, teens seemingly made *Minions* relevant for an entire demographic thought to have aged out of the film: themselves.

- For everyone from studio marketers to concession workers, it’s gotta be fascinating to see. Teens coming back into theaters? For *Minions*? [Impossible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-eX7oyqFeg).

But clearly, it is possible. And despite the “Gentleminions” trend being started authentically, expect studios to try manufacturing more trends like it in the future.

Whether that’ll actually work without the [Minions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJS7-qQvrI) is another matter.

[View full post](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/07062022-minions)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Jacob Cohen"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:59:03.440Z",
  "datePublished" : "2022-07-06T08:17:20Z",
  "headline" : "How teens are changing the movies forever",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 397,
    "url" : "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/645870179-HS-News-Brief_2022-07-06T011017.822Z.webp",
    "width" : 599
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/07062022-minions",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "Hustle News"
  }
}
```