Here’s a piece of cross-promotion that might seem perplexing at first, but actually makes sense the more you think about it. With the upcoming release of Minions: Rise of Gru, NBC’s classic sitcom The Office has teamed up with the makers of the film to reimagine their own version of the show’s opening credits. And it actually all works shockingly well. You can watch the Minions by way of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch right here:
The reimagined opening credits have The Office’s same iconic theme music and all the same images of Scranton, Pennsylvania. We see Steve Carell‘s Gru from the Despicable Me franchise inhabiting his The Office character, regional manager Michael Scott. And this is how this whole promotion really makes sense. In fact, we’re kind of shocked now that no one thought of it before.
The rejiggered opening credits also show Minions Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto portray Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly, and Kevin Malone. We see many famous scenes from The Office recreated, only with a little Minions flare. There’s the moment where Kevin infamously spills his chili, the “Dwight and the dummy” scene, and Angela tosing her cat Bandit up the ceiling. There are also several deeper-cut The Office Easter eggs for all the eagle-eyed fans of the show.
Maybe this little piece of promotional material is a precursor for something bigger down the line. Maybe a full-on Minions/The Office animated series? That might wear out its welcome pretty fast, we admit. But we bet a lot of folks out there would watch it. You know someone at Peacock has probably already considered it. There have been rumors for some time of a reboot of The Office. Maybe some Minions is the only way to do this that fewer people will hate.
Minions: Rise of Gru premieres July 1.