Minions (2015)

Minions is a 2015 American animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment, a spin-off prequel to the Despicable Me franchise. The film follows the Minions — small, yellow, pill-shaped creatures who have existed since the dawn of time with a biological imperative to serve the most despicable master they can find. After accidentally destroying every villain they've served, from a T-Rex to Napoleon, the Minions fall into a depression until three brave volunteers — Kevin, Stuart, and Bob — set out in 1968 to find a new boss.

Their journey leads them to Villain-Con in Orlando and to Scarlet Overkill, voiced by Sandra Bullock, the world's first female supervillain, who recruits them for a scheme to steal the British Crown Jewels. Minions was essentially a feature-length expansion of the slapstick comedy and gibberish language that had made the characters the Despicable Me franchise's most merchandisable element. The 1960s setting allowed for an inventive soundtrack of classic rock hits and period-specific visual humor.

Pierre Coffin, who voiced all of the Minions, developed their Minionese language as a pastiche of French, Spanish, Italian, English, and nonsense words that somehow communicated clear emotional intent. Despite mixed critical reception, Minions was a massive commercial juggernaut, earning $1.16 billion worldwide — the first film from Illumination to cross the billion-dollar mark — driven largely by international audiences and the characters' enormous popularity with children.