10 Surprising Facts About Despicable Me’s Minions

Lights on Location returns with a writeup about box office giant Minions from the Despicable Me franchise!

What makes animated movies fun to watch is that the creators are not constrained with having to look for filming locations, making unbelievable creatures and even avoiding the laws of physics? The Despicable Me franchise was one that has become loved by many children because of its ridiculous premise and funny characters, one of which are the Minions. Now that they have their own movie, the Minions have become more famous than ever. You can see them in pens, t-shirts, tumblers, and other items. These lovable creatures have captured the audience in their simple mindedness and comedic mishaps. But even when they're well known, there are still things that the audiences might not know about them. Here's a list of 10 surprising facts about Despicable Me's Minions.

Fact #1: All of the Minions have male names
We don't know why that is, but all the minions have male names. Now whether this makes them all male or just loves the sound of masculine names is a mystery. They love to dress like a girl sometimes, so that just complicates things more.

Fact #2: Minions can breathe and live even in outer space
Minions are almost invulnerable beings that can survive anything you throw at them. They've been squashed, shrink, dropped, and they still come out feeling only a bit dizzy. One minion even survived outer space for a while after he was given a douse of the anti-gravity serum.

Fact #3: Purple Minions are evil because it exactly opposes the Minions in spectrum color
These cute little creatures can turn into horrible monsters too. When they do, their color changes to purple, which is the opposite of yellow in the color spectrum? These creatures will eat anything that gets in their way, which makes them terrifying to anyone in close contact with them.

Fact #4: Minions are now the official mascot of Illumination Entertainment
After the success that the Despicable Me movies have brought to their company, this animation film production company has adopted the Minions as their official mascot.

Fact #5: Banana is the favorite fruit of the Minions, second are apple and papaya
When children think of Minions, it's usually accompanied by the sound of Banana. As is the case with the Minions, they'll do anything for a banana. It's even one of the words that they can actually say correctly. Plus they made a song about it!

Fact #6: A third Despicable Me film is currently in the works and is set to release in 2017
The Despicable Me franchise has made over a $2 billion dollars so it's no wonder that they're making another one. Mark your calendars kids! It's still far ahead, but expects the film to come out in 2017.

Fact #7: Minions don't like to leave unanswered
You better make sure that you tell them your specific orders, or else they'll just stand there staring at you waiting for your answer.

Fact #8: Minions only have 3 fingers
As with all animated characters, the Minions are missing a few fingers. They only have 3 fingers, but that doesn't stop them from helping Gru with making any diabolical plan that he has. That being said, the other characters do have 5 fingers in the movies, so it's probably just them who has 3.

Fact #9: The population of Minions is 899 according to Pierre Coffin
Imagine having a family of 899 people that are all males. That would be unbearable. Luckily the Minions are fun loving creatures who just want to spend their time serving the most evil villain in the world.

Fact #10: There are 9 known Minion's names - Dave, Stuart, Kevin, Jerry, Tim, Mark, Phil, Bob and Norbert
It can be quite hard naming all 899 of them with just male names, but we don't know if their names repeat or it's individual to them. The only named Minions in the series are Dave, Stuart, Kevin, Jerry, Tim, Mark, Phil, Bob and Norbert.