How on Earth did Minions manage to make a billion dollars? Well, smart merchandising, obviously, and maybe also the fact that the characters are cute in that infuriatingly relatable way that really gets under your skin. It certainly wasn't directly related to the quality of the film, because that was terrible and a massive wasted opportunity. Still, it was a surprisingly clever film in places, as long as you could see past the banana jokes and idiotic writing. When the trio of central Minions go to America on their way to England, they accidentally gate-crash a fake Moon set, basically confirming (in their universe at least) that the Moon landing was fake. There's also a cameo by Stanley Kubrick - the man popular conspiracy theorists accuse of being behind the hoax - to seal the deal.
