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Scenes from "Gentleminions" clips on TikTok: The topic has been circulating around the world in the video app since the beginning of July
Anyone who thinks that the party hit "Layla" is the only cultural topic that is polarizing in this summer slump should go to TikTok.
To where people are really "younger" (but not necessarily prettier or hornier).
Under the keyword »Gentleminions«, a trend has developed in the video app from Australia that has long since spilled over to Germany: groups of young people, mostly teenagers, dress up and go to the cinema.
Together they watch "Minions - In Search of the Mini-Boss" - with the declared aim of celebrating themselves and this children's film, no matter what they really think of it.
Of course they film themselves: on the way to the cinema, when buying tickets, in their seats.
Later, the song "Rich Minion" by Yeat is placed under the video snippets, which does not appear in the movie itself, but was commissioned by the "Minions" makers for a trailer from a rapper popular on TikTok.
This strange trend, somewhere between coping with corona, flash mob and chasing clicks, has been making headlines around the world since the beginning of July.
On the one hand, because each of the countless videos seems absurd: Adolescents – the »Gentleminions« – document how they ride the escalator in a neat row in suits that don't always fit well or stand in the cinema and applaud the film's credits.
On the other hand, because in Great Britain, among other things, performances in which the groups were present got out of hand: the exaggeratedly chic visitors behaved indecently, bawled around or threw bananas towards the screen, the Minions' favorite food.
Sometimes going to the cinema in a suit was forbidden.
Munich was the first to attract attention
In Germany, clips from the Mathäser Filmpalast in Munich were the first to attract a lot of attention.
They showed how a group of young tie wearers started a moshpit in the local cinema hall, a mix of dancing and pushing.
You know something like that from music festivals.
"The Mathäser was the destination of a trip by a large group of teenagers on Saturday," commented Ulrike Silberbach, the manager of the cinema, on these events diplomatically.
In the meantime, the group trips to the “Minions”, which in terms of aesthetics and typical gestures fit financial sects, have been a topic in the world of younger people for a good two weeks.
Almost every student with TikTok access should have heard about it.
Some, in turn, were there themselves or weren't there on purpose, in order to be able to gossip about their classmates.
And in the world of slightly older people, there is another question that resonates with the topic: Are the »Gentleminions«, these cinema spectacles with social media buzz, more the future of cinema or its downfall?
This question is difficult to answer.
Inquiries by SPIEGEL to German cinemas on Friday and a week earlier showed that the phenomenon varies depending on the city and cinema: In some places it is driving up the number of visitors and the stress level of cinema operators.
Elsewhere, it's no more than an amusing side note.
Holger Pfaff, for example, the managing director of the Cologne multiplex cinema Cinedome, told SPIEGEL that he welcomes it when people dress up to go to the cinema, “like we know from anime performances or the theatrical release of Marvel or Star Wars films”. : "Ultimately, as cinema operators, we benefit from such trends and campaigns, since the cinema receives even greater attention." At the same time, Pfaff reported that there were only "a few" visitors in suits in his cinema halls, and they behaved peacefully.
The past few days have passed "quietly and without any noticeable events".
A nice trend, nothing more.
The Filmpalast at the ZKM painted a different picture last week.
A video landed on the Internet via the TikTok account of this Karlsruhe cinema, showing what it looked like in one of the halls after a »Minions« performance.
For the dirty floor full of popcorn, sunflower seed shells and beverage cups, it was said that "in the name of all cinemas" we asked for "more respect".
The clip has been viewed more than six million times, and it is likely to have a decisive impact on the public image of the »Gentleminions« in Germany, at least on TikTok.
Are the »Gentleminions« really that bad?
But how representative is this clip?
Marcel Malachowski, who works as assistant theater director for the Filmpalast at the ZKM, tells SPIEGEL that most of the theaters in which the new »Minions« film was shown were »dirty above average«.
The example from the video was "by far the most extreme case".
If you search for it, you'll even find a video on TikTok of someone saying they were in that exact performance.
In it, a young man reports that the atmosphere was “great”, but also that by the end of the film “everyone” had started throwing around popcorn and soon drinks too: “I saw one, his entire top was full of Coke, Fanta.
Everything was thrown around.«
According to cinema employee Malachowski, things have changed for the better since that night.
The "gentleminions" have been far more cautious lately, he says.
Still, Malachowski doesn't sound really happy.
He says that overall the hype hurts his cinema more than it benefits it.
Sure, there will be an additional audience.
At the same time, however, his cinema loses revenue again due to customer complaints, extensive cleaning work and the associated deployment of personnel: “Not to mention the risk of having to replace destroyed inventory.”
Take care of the screens of the Munich cinema
One hears similar tones from Munich if one asks Ulrike Silberbach again, the manager of the Mathäser Filmpalast.
She finds it especially problematic when regular audiences -- often parents with kids -- mix with "those minions who are more likely to come for the action than the movie."
And the "gentleminions" are obviously more present in their house than in Cologne, for example.
In performances at the weekend, the ratio of visitors in the afternoon was about 30:70, says Silberbach - and even 80:20 in the evening, in favor of the "gentleminions".
»These groups fill up a room of 400 people.«
In order to prevent scenes like the mosh pit from happening again, your cinema relies on talking to the audience at the entrance and before the performances, says Silberbach, to clarify the rules: "It's important to us that all visitors have a good time .« In most cases, that is also possible.
As a precaution, however, she booked staff for the past weekend, says Silberbach, who stayed in the hall during the film screenings.
So far, no one has been expelled from the hall.
To this day, the operations manager worries about the screens in her cinema.
These are very expensive, she says, and not designed to be thrown at: "Some of them are super special productions, nobody has them in stock." For some performances of the "Minions", the Munich cinema takes a precautionary measure that is unique in its history: Visitors in suits are checked for bananas.