Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

July 15, 2015

Still better than the Jets.

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Edwin Davies: In comparing it to the other spinoffs mentioned, I think at least part of it is down to striking while the iron is hot. Puss in Boots would have been a bigger hit if it had come out directly after Shrek 2, which introduced the character and made him an instant highlight of a film that was huge. Plans were discussed even back then for a spinoff, but the film itself came out in 2011 after two subsequent inferior Shrek sequels had diluted the brand and hurt interest in seeing Puss in Boots out on his own. Minions, by contrast, is only the third film in the Despicable Me series, and the previous two films were both very successful and very good, so there's been no opportunity for the franchise to wear out its welcome.

The Penguins of Madagascar film's lack of success is harder to parse, but I think the problem there lies in over-exposure to the characters. They'd already been featured prominently in three Madagascar films and had their own TV series, so the idea of seeing them anchor an adventure didn't seem that interesting. The Minions, as omnipresent as they have been in the last few weeks, have been more or less contained to the Despicable Me films, so seeing them let loose on their own actually has some novelty.

It also probably helps that Minions, being a prequel, is a bit more standalone than Penguins of Madagascar was, and the humor is pretty universal, both of which make it friendly for a broad audience.

Ryan Kyle: It's because if you asked anyone to name a character in the Despicable Me franchise, I'd bet my money that most people would say “Minions" before "Gru." Puss in Boots and the Penguins were secondary characters, while the Minions have been front and center this entire franchise. The teaser trailer for Despicable Me 2 was just Minion antics and didn't even have Gru. This is why the film is behaving more like a sequel than a spin-off.




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Max Braden: I'd say it's the basic pratfalls and Three Stooges behavior that appeals easily to kids, but the Penguins have that too. I think it might actually be the non-English-but-still-intelligible gibberish that the Minions speak. That actually helps keep some distance in terms of relatable personality that talking animals might have. The Minions are a little closer to pets - they have personality and you understand them even if they can't speak the same language. I think that may actually make them safer to have a relationship with because they're more archetypes of characters than individuals. That's probably more thought than the concept needs, though.

Ben Gruchow: I think that's a fairly brilliant point, Max. When you mentioned the "non-English-but-still-intelligible gibberish" line, I thought of the Sims franchise and its region-free Simlish. The invention of the Simlish language was one of the reasons why the first Sims game blew up like it did; there was no need to translate anything, so the communication in-game played the same in every country, across every nationality and language. I think something similar happened with Minions: when the characters appeal to people, they appeal on an inherently universal basis.

Kim Hollis: I will say that I think scheduling/timing (other than not releasing it on July 4th) had very little to do with their success. The minions would have killed it on practically any normal weekend. What I do believe is that the Minions are universal (not Universal) in their appeal. Kids like them because, well, they’re kind of like other kids. Adults enjoy them because of their Loony Tunes-like antics. They’re simultaneously a throwback and a novelty, if that makes sense.


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