People who went to a movie theater on July 1, 2022, most likely ran into someone who looked like they were heading to work, as the theaters flooded with people dressed head to toe in business attire. Weeks before July 1, the hashtag “#GentleMinions” was trending on TikTok with over six million views, encouraging moviegoers to dress up in suits and sunglasses for the new movie, “Minions: Rise of Gru.”
This year, the trend continues; people have been dressing up for movies like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” which were both released on July 21, and most recently, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” released on Oct. 13. All three of these movies had extremely successful opening weekends at the box office, earning $155 million, $82.4 million, and $92.8 million respectively, according to CNBC.
Senior Sam Huggett, a crew member at AMC, has never dressed up for a movie, but he enjoyed trading bracelets with Taylor Swift fans who came to watch “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” “[The AMC staff] would have these AMC bracelets that we would get to trade for the bracelets [that Swift fans wore to the movie]. We just racked them up; I think I got 40 bracelets in total,” Huggett said. In addition to trading bracelets, he has also seen people dress up for movies like “The Little Mermaid” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Similarly, senior Margot Musolf has also noticed more people dressing up for movies. “I’ll see people in cosplay for movies, and I think that’s really cool. I love seeing people express themselves for media that they’re interested in,” Musolf said. However, unlike Huggett, Musolf is no stranger to dressing up for movies. They have dressed up for movies like “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” “I think [dressing up] is kind of a part of fan culture, so the idea that [people] get to dress up as one of their favorite characters for a movie makes people excited to go to the movies,” they said.
Although Huggett believes that people who dress up will probably see the movie either way, he still thinks it brings more people into the theater. “Dressing up is what makes [people] want to see [a movie] in theaters and not just streaming at home,” he said. “I think [people started dressing up for the movies] because during quarantine going to the movies kind of fell off, and it was their way of bringing back cinema and the experience.”
Finding ways to incentivize people to come to theaters has been important, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, which was detrimental to movie theaters. In 2020, the domestic box office dropped by 81.4% — a 40-year low. However, the following year, the box office went back up 112.1%, which may sound like a significant increase, but that is still over 60% lower than pre-COVID-19 numbers, according to Box Office Mojo by IMDB.
The future of movie theaters is uncertain, but it will be interesting to see what role (if any) dressing up for movies will play in both movie marketing and ticket sales.
This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on November 30, 2023.
