The ‘GentleMinions’ trend, explained

polygon.com:

If you were within spitting distance of a movie theater this weekend, or just scrolling through TikTok, you might have noticed a new Minion-related trend: Young adults and teens dressing up in formalwear to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru in theaters. The trend soared to ridiculous heights, with individual videos garnering as many as 24 million views and the “#gentleminions” tag on TikTok exceeding 24 million views as well. The “GentleMinions” trend is fueled by a commitment to shitposting that blends a chaotic love of Minion memes, nostalgia, and the good old moviegoing experience.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is a prequel to the Despicable Me movie franchise that features the bumbling yellow bean-like characters. The trend took off July 1, the opening weekend of The Rise of Gru. The videos vary, but most of them involve groups of friends donning formal attire, flooding the theater, and chanting “I count money! I count money!” as the song “Rich Minion” by Yeat plays.

Minions > Avengers

Ryan Broderick, the writer behind the internet culture newsletter Garbage Day, traced the origins of the joke to the 2019 “Tickets to Joker” meme. The meme, Broderick explains, originated on 4chan with the phrase “two tickets to Joker, please” and made fun how a stereotypical incel would dress. But in the following years, Redditors and TikTokers reshaped the meme to say that watching certain movies is a Chad-like characteristic instead. Most recently, TikTokers once again riffed on it, and it developed into an idea to go see the new Minions movie in a suit.

The vast majority of the videos star groups of moviegoers in suits, who appear to be teens. Many involve just dressing up to go to the theater, but others put their own twist on the