An Unanticipated Collaboration Breaks Box Office Records: Yeat X Minions: The Rise of Gru

An Unanticipated Collaboration Breaks Box Office Records: Yeat X Minions: The Rise of Gru

Image via Know Your Meme

American Rapper, Yeat, surprised his fans and Minions audiences alike by releasing a song for the soundtrack of the children’s movie. Formally released on June 28, “Rich Minion” was directed by Cole Bennett of Lyrical Lemonade and appears in the trailer of the new film.

Minions: Rise of Gru – The Lyrical Lemonade Trailer (feat. Yeah – Rich Minion) via Youtube

In “Rich Minion,” Yeat boasts about how much he was paid to make a song for the movie with G-rated lyrics:

“I made a song for the Minions, uh

How much they paid me? A million, uh

I shop and then donate to charity (Woo, I donate it to charity)”

Minions and Memes

Although wildly unanticipated, the pairing of the film and the rapper has been surprisingly successful. Minions: The Rise of Gru has been attracting a wider range of audiences than other movies from its franchise. Of course, young children are watching the film. So are adults who are either parents attending with their children or loyal fans obsessed with the yellow little guys. However, maybe the most excited contingent of viewers, is Gen Z. 

Gen Z boosted the film’s popularity through Twitter and Tik Tok by making memes of the film. They used to watch the franchise’s movies as children, but now ironically rave over them for laughs. However, the gag isn’t just contained within social media apps. Gen Z is actually showing up to theaters and contributing to the project’s projected $129 million box office sale. 

For example, teens and young adults are using Yeat’s track to make TikToks of them and and their friends attending the film wearing formal attire. 

@evilvillanelle via Twitter

Cole Bennett released the track via Twitter earlier in the month announcing, “im doing a trailer for the minions movie and i convinced them to let me use yeat for the soundtrack.” Then, the official Minions account retweeted the post, and the rest is history. Fans can expect Lyrical Lemonade X Minions merch as well. 

Another reason for the film’s popularity among the unlikely generation has to do with the rest of its music/marketing choices. Produced by Jack Antonoff, the list of artists includes Gen Z favorites like Kali Uchis, BROCKHAMPTON, Phoebe Bridgers, and Tierra Whack. 

@early_boiii via Twitter
@laurelhell via Twitter


The marketing choices made for Minions: The Rise of Gru should be a lesson to other movie franchises that seek to break box office records. The secret to good turnout is to let Gen Z do the work for you. Even if a film is being brutally memed on social media by teens, embrace it! Folks will surely show up to watch the film, at least ironically, in massive numbers.

Post a Comment