Trivia / Minions: The Rise of Gru

• All-Star Cast: In addition to Steve Carell, Julie Andrews, Russell Brand, Will Arnett and Steve Coogan returning from the Despicable Me films, the movie also features the voices of Alan Arkin, Taraji P. Henson, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Danny Trejo, Dolph Lundgren, Michelle Yeoh, and RZA.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: The Japanese dub had many of them:
  • Belle Bottom is voiced by actress Machiko Ono, better known for playing Miss Osono in the live-action adaptation of Kiki's Delivery Service.
  • Master Chow is voiced by the actress and fashion model Naomi Watanabe.
  • Wild Knuckles is voiced by the actor Masachika Ichimura, who many non-Japanese viewers can recognize him for voicing Mewtwo in Pokémon: The First Movie and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Red XIII in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Tokugawa Ieyasu in Nioh, while his henchman is voiced by Hiroki Suzuki, better known for toku fans as Kamen Rider Decade's Alternate Universe incarnation of Kamen Rider Blade.
  • The female airport ticket seller is voiced by the singer LiSA, better known as the singer of the first opening theme of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Gurenge.
  • For Wild Knuckles again, actor Gérard Darmon voices him in European French.
• The Danza: Jean Clawed is voiced by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
• Delayed Release Tie-In:
  • The film was long delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic messing with productions and theatrical release schedules, from July 2020 to July 2022. Its Funko Pop! line came around the original date, two years before it came out.
  • There were also cereal boxes that offered free tickets to see the movie, as well as a McDonald's promotion. Any kids hoping to use those free tickets had to hang on to them for two years, assuming they were still valid.
  • It also had various LEGO sets released in 2020.
• Edited for Syndication: The Chinese release includes subtitled images in the credits sequence saying that Wild Knuckles was eventually arrested after a failed heist and served a 20-year prison sentence, while Gru would grow up, become a hero and start a family.
• Fake Nationality: Jean-Clawed, a Frenchman, is voiced by Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme's first language is French though (half of Belgium speaks French), so his accent is genuine.
• Kids' Meal Toy: As noted above, there was a McDonald's promotion tying into a delayed release. In Singapore, however, they released the toys on time for the movie's actual premiere date.
• Meme Acknowledgment: The official Minions Twitter account has posted an animated gif directly referencing the "Gentleminions" meme and even uses the term as a hashtag.
• The Other Darrin: Second time this happened in the Swedish dub. Gru was already replaced in the first Minions movie, being voiced by Pierre Tafvelin rather than Henrik Dorsin. Tafvelin did not return for this movie, with Gru instead being voiced by Andreas Rothlin Svensson (who previously voiced Dru in Despicable Me 3).
• Release Date Change: The film has the dubious honor of being the last released COVID-delayed big production that was supposed to come out in 2020. The original release date was July 3, 2020, then it was pushed back to July 2, 2021, then finally to July 1, 2022. Which ended up coinciding with the 5 year anniversary of the franchise's previous film Despicable Me 3.
• Sequel Gap: Between the first film from 2015 and this sequel (2022) - 7 years. If one decides to count the larger franchise, then that leaves a good 5 years between Despicable Me 3 (2017) and this film.
• Short Run in Peru: The film started rolling out internationally in June of 2022 in countries such as Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, and India among others.
• Those Two Actors: Again, the Japanese dub averts this with both Mamoru Miyano and Kōichi Yamadera, as the latter didn't dub any role here, while the former voice a minor role as a biker that Otto befriends. Oddly enough, this is also the first time that any of them aren't voicing a lead or secondary role here.^note In this case, however, this could be justified as both Miyano annd Yamadera worked as Gamma 2 and Beerus respectively in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which debuted in June 2022 in Japan, while this film debuted in July 2022 there.
• Trailer Delay: The film came out nearly two and a half years after its first trailer was released. This is Lampshaded in the film's credits as the film has a copyright notice of 2022, confirming that the film was completed in 2022.
• Troubled Production: The COVID-19 pandemic forced Illumination Entertainment to temporarily close in 2020, which considerably delayed the film's completion.
• What Could Have Been: Some concept art shows Belle Bottom’s original Chinese Zodiac form would have been a tiger instead of a dragon.
• Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: A trend called "Gentleminions" arose during the film's theatrical run, where large groups of young men would go to see the movie dressed in formal attire. Unfortunately, due to some of these groups engaging in rowdy behavior that disturbed other moviegoers, many theaters started turning away any Sharp Dressed Men who tried to buy tickets to the film.

---