'Gentleminions' TikTok trend ruins Minions: The Rise Of Gru screenings

Parents have blasted film studio Universal for encouraging teenage boys to wear suits to screenings of the new Minions film after their rowdy behaviour in cinemas brought on by a TikTok trend left children in tears. 

The trend is often accompanied by cheering, clapping and shouting and sees youngsters calling themselves 'The Gentleminions' wearing smart clothes to watch Minions: The Rise Of Gru and causing disruption during the movie.

Some UK cinemas have banned teenagers from wearing suits while others have cancelled all further screenings of the movie, which only came out last Friday - with one venue condemning 'stunningly bad behaviour' including vandalism, throwing food and abusing staff. Others have put up signs telling people not to dress up for the movie.

Despite the disruption in cinemas, movie studio Universal Pictures, which produced the film, has endorsed the #gentleminions trend, tweeting: 'To everyone showing up to @Minions in suits: we see you and we love you'. 

But one parent replied, saying: 'We didn't love them. My seven-year-old daughter and her best friend were terrified, of what were essentially football hooligans on tour. Excitement turned to fear within minutes of taking our seats, where we were met with shouting, swearing, feet banging, t**ts. Absolutely disgusting!' Another Twitter user said: 'Yes, least [sic] applaud the people ruining the movie that costs families £40/£50 in ticket prices.' 

The trend was first promoted online about ten days ago when YouTubers and TikTokers posted mocked-up videos joking that cinemagoers should turn up to the film wearing suits. One of the main clips promoting this was 'Tickets To Minions Please' which was created by US-based 'Meme Zee' on June 26 and racked up 536,000 views.

As these videos circulated and gained traction in the days leading up to the film's release on July 1, groups of young people began planning to dress up for the film - and then actually carried this out on the opening night.

One of the main videos promoting the trend was posted on June 30 by the TikTok user '@____pan' - an account belonging to an unidentified person whose videos often attract hundreds of thousands of views - which showed a group of teenage boys wearing suits arriving at a cinema owned by Hoyts, a chain in Australia and New Zealand.

The clip was accompanied by the caption 'why are people actually pulling up with suits'. It has since gained 17.2million views and been backed by the official Minions account which posted in reply: 'This is the dress code'.

The Minions TikTok account then also backed the concept, posting a clip on July 2 saying 'Bobspeed you gentleminions' and including clips of boys wearing suits to screenings with the caption: 'Your day has come'.

But the trend has caused chaos for cinemas, with the noisy behaviour of the boys during showings resulting in misery for families with young children trying to watch the latest instalment in the Despicable Me franchise.

The #gentleminions videos continue to be promoted on social media and show suited groups attending the screenings and copying the main character, supervillain Felonius Gru, and his signature hand gesture.

But one manager of a Vue Cinema in Worcester said they had to issue £1,300 worth of refunds in a single day due to complaints from customers about bad behaviour by the young people dressed in suits.



JUNE 26: The trend was first promoted online about ten days ago when YouTubers and TikTokers posted mocked-up videos joking that cinema-goers should turn up to the film wearing suits. One of the main clips promoting this was 'Tickets To Minions Please' which was posted by US-based 'Meme Zee' on June 26 and racked up 536,000 views



@____pan I thought it was a joke #fyp #minions #banana

♬ original sound - Pan solos ya verse





JUNE 30: One of the main videos revealing the trend in action was posted on June 30 by the TikTok user @____pan which showed a group of teenage boys wearing suits arriving at a cinema owned by Hoyts, a chain in Australia and New Zealand. The clip was accompanied by the caption 'why are people actually pulling up with suits'. It has since gained 17.2million views and been backed by the official Minions account which posted in reply: 'This is the dress code'





JULY 1: Despite the disruption caused in cinemas, movie studio Universal Pictures, which produced the film, has endorsed the #gentleminions trend, tweeting: 'To everyone showing up to @Minions in suits: we see you and we love you'



@minions Bobspeed you gentleminions.