Release Date: July 10, 2015 Minions could very well turn out to be a worthwhile spin-off flick, when was the last time the term "worthwhile spin-off" was used non-ironically? Which is to say, movies built in this vein are rarely ever considered to be of good quality. After all, this upcoming animated follow-up serves as something of a side-sequel to the Despicable Me films (both good), then, though it positions a bunch of popular but very annoying secondary characters - the Minions of the title - as the main protagonists. Minions is dangerous because - should it succeed at the box office, which it almost certainly will - it represents a Hollywood where franchises give birth to sub-franchises, in which studios avoid the pressures of a "true" sequel in delivering something reminiscent of that product, but not quite. Should it fail, well... the franchise might lose a bit of credibility, but it's not the same as if Despicable Me 3 were lambasted by the critics (that movie, too, is inevitable). When Minions makes half a billion dollars at the box office come summertime, dedicated cinephiles may get a whiff of the end; let it be known that this is likely the first in a succession of animated movies focusing on secondary characters from any number of franchises - soon they will clog up the multiplexes... endless, unstoppable, and relentless.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
