Cinemas ban teens in suits following 'Minions: The rise of Gru' TikTok trend
A number of UK cinemas have banned people wearing suits after youngsters were criticised for rowdy behaviour during screenings of the new Despicable Me film.
The decision comes amid a viral trend on social media app Tiktok involving large groups of teenage boys, who call themselves The Gentleminions, filming each other going to watch 'Minions: The Rise Of Gru' in formal dress.
On Saturday (July 2), Regal cinema in Wadebridge, Cornwall, posted on social media: "Customer Notice. We are currently not admitting unaccompanied children wearing suits for ‘Minions: The Rise Of Gru’ (U).
“This is due to the issues we have encountered over the last two days and its associated behaviour. Thank you.”
It is not clear where the trend originated but the #gentleminions videos show suited groups copying the main character, supervillain Felonius Gru, and his signature hand gesture.
Some even took bananas to snack on during the screenings, referencing the favourite food of Gru’s yellow helpers, the Minions.
A mother from Bath described her "atrocious" experience taking her 12-year-old son and his friends to the Odeon Cinema in the city.
Clare Harrison said the boys were refused entry to the film: "It was only one of the boys in the group who wore a shirt and tie and the whole group was turned away. They'd all been dropped off by parents thinking they'd be safe watching a film.
"There were no signs explaining why, just a security guard telling them to leave. Worst bit was I said to the manager I’d take the boy with a tie away to get changed and he said ‘we won’t let him back as we’ve seen his face now’."
Movie studio Universal Pictures, which produced the film, has endorsed people dressing up for the film, tweeting “to everyone showing up to @Minions in suits: we see you and we love you”.
Clare continued: "The film makers even promote wearing suits to watch the Minion films. My son has Crohns and had missed school most of last week but felt well enough to go to cinema with his friends on Saturday. We were so pleased he was feeling up to it.
"I just found the whole thing absolutely bizarre. It could have been handled so much better, I thought the whole thing was atrocious."
In a statement, Odeon said: “Due to a small number of incidents in our cinemas over the weekend we have had to restrict access in some circumstances."
A cinema in the Channel Islands initially decided to stop showing the film completely due to the 'disruptive' behaviour.
The Mallard Cinema in Guernsey has now decided to 'tentatively' reintroduce the film to its scheduling but with rules.
In a post on social media, the cinema said the rules include: "Only being able to make bookings in person; large groups unaccompanied by adults will not be admitted; and any disturbance during the film will result in people being asked to leave."
The cinema added: "As funny as we found it at first, we will not admit anyone wearing the 'Suit' in line with the 'Tik Tok' trend."
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