Though you might not know it if you don't have young kids, Despicable Me and its cheerful, blobby yellow minions became huge hits when the movie opened in 2010, and the inevitable sequel is on its way for next summer. Taking advantage of Halloween, Universal has released a new teaser for the sequel with a distinctly spooky flair-- though it's hard to tell if the alien invasion hinted at here is actually part of the new film or just a Halloween peg. You can see it below, or visit Apple.com to see it in beautiful high-res.
It's interesting that, despite the fact that the minions are getting their own spinoff in 2014, they're front and center in this teaser-- with the Steve Carell-voice Gru only appearing for the title card near the end of the trailer. The film's official synopsis gives us no clue as to whether this alien invasion bit at the end actually happens in the movie, saying only that the movie features "the return of Gru, the girls, the unpredictably hilarious minions… and a host of new and outrageously funny characters." Alien abduction seems totally within the realm of possibility, especially since the first film ended on such a resolved note that no matter what, the sequel is going to have to jump off into a new direction.
But is Universal running the risk of wearing people out on these characters before the spinoff even arrives? I'm curious to see a Despicable Me 2 trailer that focuses a bit more on the human characters, and gives us an idea of what the movie will be other than an advance version of the minions spinoff. I get that they're the breakout characters, but are they really going to be the primary focus of two back-to-back films?
Despicable Me is set for release July 3, 2012.
