‘Minions and Monsters’ Director Breaks Down the Film’s Easter Eggs, From ‘Citizen Kane’ to Old Universal Logos, ‘The Blob’ and More

Jul 3, 2026 11:00am PT SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Minions and Monsters” out now in movie theaters. “Minions and Monsters” writer, director and voice actor Pierre Coffin is a huge fan of classic cinema, so it’s fitting that the latest installment of the franchise pays tribute to old Hollywood. This time around, two new characters, Henry and James, lead the story.

Set against a 1920s backdrop, the film shows how the Minions accidentally stumble upon a movie set and conquer Hollywood. Along the way, they discover sound, and in the process of filmmaking, they unleash monsters into the world. And, in true Minions style, it’s utter comedic chaos.

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The evolution of the Universal logo and Illumination Entertainment’s logo Illumination and Universal Pictures Before co-writer Brian Lynch joined the project, Coffin had started jotting down ideas, and one of the first things he wrote down was the Universal Pictures logo. Coffin explains, “On the second draft, I thought, ‘Oh, we’re going back in time.’” As he envisioned the opening credits, Coffin thought about incorporating the studio’s old logos and finding an elegant way to do it.

“I typed in Universal logos across time, and I got the site where all the logos were,” he explains. With that, he created a version that starts with the modern-day Universal logo and goes back to the very first one. In keeping with that style, Coffin also incorporated an Illumination logo that harkens back to the Merrie Melodies animated logo.

“I had my elegant way into the movie, where it was going to be about the past. It also permitted composer John Powell to install all the themes that he was going to be putting into the movies,” Coffin adds. The Hollywood Museum With the film set largely in the past, Coffin wanted to break expectations and hold off on exposing the Minions to audiences too early.

The movie opens with a modern-day museum tour guide, Olivia (voiced by Allison Janney), who walks guests through exhibits celebrating cinema history. “The museum moment was to find all the things audiences loved about movies,” Coffin says. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot nods and references to “The Matrix,” “E.

T: The Extra Terrestrial,” and even a gag featuring “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. But there was one nod Coffin was particularly eager to include. “The most important thing I wanted in there is the plane from ‘Airplane.’”

He says, “When you think of a movie classic, you think of ’12 Angry Men’ or ‘Citizen Kane.’ You think of old black-and-white movies, but you don’t think about comedy, and for me, ‘Airplane’ was a good example of a movie that also pays tribute to everything that those slapstick guys did in the 1920s.” He goes on to say, “That movie is just a masterpiece in actually doing that.”

Other nods include “The Blues Brothers” and “Back to the Future.” Photo credit: Illumination & Uni George Lucas’ Cameo Coffin credits co-writer Brian Lynch with coming up with the idea of including a statue behind glass in the museum. Coffin recalls, “We knew that this guy needed to be of a certain importance and still alive.

We had a meeting where names were thrown out, and then Chris Meledandri (Illumination’s CEO) said ‘How about George Lucas?’” The question was how they would convince Lucas to say yes, especially since he had retired. But Meledandri offered to send a text message.

Coffin says, “The reply didn’t come right away, but Chris said, ‘George says yes, and he’s coming to Paris in two weeks. You should record him.” Two weeks later, Lucas arrived at a small recording studio in Paris, where he stayed for half an hour to record his cameo.

A nod to Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin Once the Minions stumble into Hollywood, the film pays homage to early slapstick cinema, recreating scenes made famous by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. For Coffin, the idea was that the Minions would flow through the scenes. “It was to give a nod to those guys, but also to suggest that those guys weren’t necessarily the inventors of these moments — that it was actually happy accidents provoked by the Minions that made those moments iconic,” Coffin explains.

Coffin adds, “It’s a retelling of history. There are moments where we’re not true to history. The idea was not to make a historical movie.

The invention of sound did not come at that period; it came a couple of y