Villain-Con Minion Blast (General Discussion)

[Parkscope Joe]

I dunno y’all the decade plus media old franchise might be a flash in the pan, maybe we should wait another decade to determine if it’s popular.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The Minions have been criminally underutilized at UOR.

 

[Alicia]

The Minions have been printing money and show no sign of slowing down. Just cause some teenagers dressed in suits and added another few million dollars to the box office doesn't matter when every child in my life is dressed head to toe in Minion merch, while eating yogurt with Minions on it, rewatching DM2 on cable.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yup… the financial impact of the silly meme was absolutely minuscule. In any case, what do you call a franchise that children adore and adults flock to semi-ironically? A four-quadrant hit.

Yes. Key point. The minions are loved across many demographics, young and old. There's not many IP's that can say that. ...That fact makes for a solid IP that's not limited to
one specific age group.

 

[Nick]

Yeah the minions were the gold mine in this entire franchise. They were the cute thing that they were able to make zany spinoff movies about. Also, every movie has been extremely profitable.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Not only are the Minions consistently popular across multiple age groups and proven merchandise movers, they are absolutely ideal for an AA-focused dark ride. Their design and animation is exceedingly simple, they can exist narratively in multiple distinct environments, they are all essentially identical, and their humor is based on brief, physical vignettes but with relatively little squash-and-stretch bodily distortion. It’s as though the IP was designed to be an AA dark ride - I can’t think of another major franchise, live or animated, that would be easier to translate to that format.

 

[RedButton]

Random anecdote - I know an older guy who loves, absolutely loves, the minions and has never seen any of the movies except for DM1, which he hated.

 

[Bort]

Doesn’t the Morbius example kinda prove everyone else’s point though? Social media memes =/= box office success. A billion dollars is like….a LOT of people. For a movie like Minions, I’d bet the bulk of its success was in repeat viewings over high schoolers on Tik Tok.

The Morbius example was to show that social media can influence industries however they want to. The idea was to dupe Hollywood into putting the movie back in theaters just so it wouldn't make money, and it worked.

The example wasn't about the box office success, it was about the influence that young social media demos have. The goal with Morbius was to dupe the studio into re-releasing a movie that everyone trolled, promising to show up this time, and then not going. And it worked. The goal with the Minions was to meme it into one of the billion dollar movies of the year, so that it would be up there with all-timers. And it worked.

Again, my point is not that the franchise is in some sort of unsuccessful state. Just that the box office figures are influenced by a very strange trend. There's really no way to quantify the number of people who went to see it for x or y reason, but I think it's a bigger trend than some people give it credit for.

 

[Casper Gutman]

The Morbius example was to show that social media can influence industries however they want to. The idea was to dupe Hollywood into putting the movie back in theaters just so it wouldn't make money, and it worked.

The example wasn't about the box office success, it was about the influence that young social media demos have. The goal with Morbius was to dupe the studio into re-releasing a movie that everyone trolled, promising to show up this time, and then not going. And it worked. The goal with the Minions was to meme it into one of the billion dollar movies of the year, so that it would be up there with all-timers. And it worked.

Again, my point is not that the franchise is in some sort of unsuccessful state. Just that the box office figures are influenced by a very strange trend. There's really no way to quantify the number of people who went to see it for x or y reason, but I think it's a bigger trend than some people give it credit for.

The Morbius situation occurred due to a unique confluence of factors, most notably that Sony is absolutely desperate for franchises in an era when the only reason studios exist is as IP silos and, more generally, the fact that Sony is badly run. In this case, that incompetence manifested in an ignorance of the fact that THE INTERNET IS NOT REAL LIFE. It amplifies a relatively few voices whose concerns often have little in common with the general public.

You’re actually making the same mistake as Sony. The money Minions made was a tangible, real world result on which a few internet memes (which are not real life, remember) had a vanishingly small impact. Memes may influence a few panicky studio execs who have immersed themselves in a bubble of buzz and online trends and lost touch with the real world, but it’s much harder to influence millions of movie goers with jobs and families.

 

[shiekra38]

Have we considered that the Minions are approachable to multiple generations for various reasons

A similar IP with this effect is Spongebob

The Minions are like little puppies, cute, fun, goofy, loveable, slightly malicious, and sometimes they cause something to blow up, who doesn't love puppies?

If anything I think they deserve more

Also, not the topic of the thread, but I believe we've only begun to see the impact of Illumination and Dreamworks properties

Just from some general anecdotal discussions at parties and gatherings...friends and family are starting to watch Dreamworks/Illumination films over Disney's new stuff

The Minions are the face of that

 

[Casper Gutman]

Have we considered that the Minions are approachable to multiple generations for various reasons

A similar IP with this effect is Spongebob

The Minions are like little puppies, cute, fun, goofy, loveable, slightly malicious, and sometimes they cause something to blow up, who doesn't love puppies?

If anything I think they deserve more

Also, not the topic of the thread, but I believe we've only begun to see the impact of Illumination and Dreamworks properties

Just from some general anecdotal discussions at parties and gatherings...friends and family are starting to watch Dreamworks/Illumination films over Disney's new stuff

The Minions are the face of that

As much as I enjoy Minions/ DM, and as much as I want to see a big Minions land anchored by an AA-heavy dark ride, the DM franchise isn’t necessarily what you’d call “good,” even if it’s fun, and it’s not really near the quality of the vast majority of WDA or Pixar’s output. Dreamworks really hit Disney heights for the first time with Puss in Boots 2 (Bad Guys was pretty close). While the Uni animation houses are certainly a financial challenge to Disney, Dreamworks is only in the early stages of establishing an artistic track record comparable to the mouse.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

As much as I enjoy Minions/ DM, and as much as I want to see a big Minions land anchored by an AA-heavy dark ride, the DM franchise isn’t necessarily what you’d call “good,” even if it’s fun, and it’s not really near the quality of the vast majority of WDA or Pixar’s output. Dreamworks really hit Disney heights for the first time with Puss in Boots 2 (Bad Guys was pretty close). While the Uni animation houses are certainly a financial challenge to Disney, Dreamworks is only in the early stages of establishing an artistic track record comparable to the mouse.

Despicable Me is great. It’s a story of found family and redemption.

 

[Jake S]

yeah, I'd push back on the idea that the core despicable me franchise isn't good. the minions films don't reach the same level (and frankly aren't that good, imo) but honestly ... does that even matter? they made four fast and the furious movies before they made a good one and it's an absolutely massive franchise.

 

[belloq87]

I can only defend the first DESPICABLE ME as an actually good movie. DM2 is terrible, the first MINIONS is lukewarm, and I haven't seen the rest.

That said, it's extremely clear that Minions are great characters for a theme park.

 

[rageofthegods]

So in a few years when Minions have played out or have been usurped by a more popular IP comes along they're stuck with a bunch of Minions stuff? I think what they're doing is fine. So many modern/current IPs are hot one minute and forgotten the next. I expect that to become an even shorter window with streaming.

It used to be a "big" movie or show would really become ingrained in kids because they would watch the DVD over and over and over and over. Now, everything comes and goes. Sure, there are a few new cultural phenomena, and a few things become "evergreen", but the fragmented media landscape is meaning less and less group/cultural experiences and more individual things that a just blips on the radar.

The Minions have been around for 10 years and just scored the biggest box office for an animated film post pandemic. They are not going away in "few years."

 

[GAcoaster]

Every trend comes to an end...

 

[rageofthegods]

Every trend comes to an end...

I missed that there was already a conversation about this in the past few pages so I won't relitigate things too much. But while yes, you're correct that trends recede, there is absolutely zero evidence that Minions will recede in popularity anytime soon, much less in a few years.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Every trend comes to an end...

I always say this as I walk around the theme parks featuring theUniversal Monsters (1925), Popeye (1929), Betty Boop (1930), King Kong (1933), Dr Seuss (1937), Dudley Do-Right (1959), Spider-Man and the Hulk (1962), Jason Bourne (1980), E.T. (1982), Transformers (1984), The Simpsons (1987), Jurassic Park (1990), Harry Potter (1997), and The Mummy (1999). IP popularity sure is fleeting, I think.

 

[GAcoaster]

My post on this subject was more about the idea that what they have done and are doing for Minions is adequate. To people saying they should relocate the Minions and expand into a "real" land instead of what they are doing, I was simply saying that it wouldn't be a very prudent expenditure. Yes, they have made money, make money now, and will for the foreseeable future, but there is a limit.

I always say this as I walk around the theme parks featuring theUniversal Monsters (1925), Popeye (1929), Betty Boop (1930), King Kong (1933), Dr Seuss (1937), Dudley Do-Right (1959), Spider-Man and the Hulk (1962), Jason Bourne (1980), E.T. (1982), Transformers (1984), The Simpsons (1987), Jurassic Park (1990), Harry Potter (1997), and The Mummy (1999). IP popularity sure is fleeting, I think.

Yes, they are all relevant to some extent, but you could also point to Jimmy Neutron, Woody Woodpecker, Fievel, Barney, etc.. Eventually they can and will stop selling merchandise and being as relevant.

People keep lobbying for the replacement of Toon Lagoon as being irrelevant. Yes they're recognizable, but are the characters relevant or selling much merchandise? Last time I looked besides Betty Boop there's little merch in the stores for those characters...

It's like Six Flags with Looney Toons-- yes they are recognizable to all, but are they still relevant? Do they really sell much merchandise? Would you spend a few million dollars to add them to a park?

 

[Casper Gutman]

My post on this subject was more about the idea that what they have done and are doing for Minions is adequate. To people saying they should relocate the Minions and expand into a "real" land instead of what they are doing, I was simply saying that it wouldn't be a very prudent expenditure. Yes, they have made money, make money now, and will for the foreseeable future, but there is a limit.

Yes, they are all relevant to some extent, but you could also point to Jimmy Neutron, Woody Woodpecker, Fievel, Barney, etc.. Eventually they can and will stop selling merchandise and being as relevant.

People keep lobbying for the replacement of Toon Lagoon as being irrelevant. Yes they're recognizable, but are the characters relevant or selling much merchandise? Last time I looked besides Betty Boop there's little merch in the stores for those characters...

It's like Six Flags with Looney Toons-- yes they are recognizable to all, but are they still relevant? Do they really sell much merchandise? Would you spend a few million dollars to add them to a park?

I would build a park around the Looney Toons, and as we know, so would Universal.