Sing Costumes to Exceed Popularity of Minions Costumes?

By Shrey Sankalp

Illumination Entertainment stumbled upon something truly zeitgeist-like with Minions.
Conceived as minor characters, the yellow gibberish spewing creatures managed to somehow steal all of Despicable Me, and with how they  found favor with the audiences, it was only a matter of time before Minions costumes, and Minions accessories (everything from tiffin boxes to Crocs) appeared and sold out. That phenomenon certainly didn't change in the coming years, with Despicable Me 2 and Minions proving to be equally big.
Of course, just because your intellectual property is popular and selling a lot of costumes and props right now, doesn't mean it will continue selling those costumes and like forever.
Illumination Entertainment clearly understood that before us, because my God, their new feature Sing is good.
And I don't just mean good.
It's good to an extent where your next costume will be a Sing costume.
Intrigued yet? I'm sure you are.
So what exactly does Sing bring to the table that will make you eschew your Minion yellows for a Sing costume?
Oh, I'll tell you.

Universal Pictures

Is there any world where these designs don't make for a killer costume!?

Sing's greatest asset is perhaps its simplicity. The film's synopsis makes it amply clear. This isn't one of those costumed throw-downs (that heroes have been all to eager to have this year) with its moral implications and whatnots - this a wholly feelgood animated adventure with a simple plot: A koala whose theater is running into losses hosts a singing competition to save it.
Really, that's it. No costumes, no explosions, nothing.
The film's one and only selling point is that it has anthropomorphic animals that, well, sing.
Of course, if nothing about that seems terribly original to you, that's because it isn't.
Just as Moana proved a few weeks earlier (another animated blast that is sure to be very high on the kids' costume shopping list for Halloween), sometimes a formulaic plot and treatment can actually prove to be beneficial, as it allows you to fix your creative muscles in the visual department.
And you bet Sing brings it there.
I've been talking about Sing costumes might be the next big thing, but if we're talking about how a movie might make for some great costumes, it means it has got some great designs.
The thing that strikes you the most about Sing's animation is how smooth and high quality it is, to a point where it goes toe to toe with Disney's Zootopia.
Zootopia was another film about talking animals with stellar animation that was a colossal hit among the younger costume enthusiasts, and while Sing doesn't touch that film's narrative complexities, it offers equally stellar character models that are as ready to be translated into a costume as those in Zootopia.
Buster Moon costumes should prove to be fairly popular among the younger audiences because of his adorably short stature and delightful expressions, while Rosita costumes, Ash costumes, Johnny costumes and Mike costumes should prove to be equally popular among a wide variety of musicians.
The beauty of the latter set of characters is not how they look uniquely chubby and huggable - they do, of course - but just as how each character has their own musical style, their costumes and appearances have been designed with those musical influences heavily influencing their costume.
It's the little touches that make animated films all the more popular.
Almost all of 2016's greatest animated adventures had the aforementioned in spades, and Sing clearly made sure it didn't miss the cut.

Universal Pictures

Visual proof that Scarlett Johansson can make even porcupines look beautiful.

But yes, as I've mentioned time and again, animated movies must also focus heavily on the characters themselves, and not just their designs - no one ever sold costumes just because their characters looked cool, you know.
Sing's character certainly aren't short on personality, if that was a concern for you.
Each character is voiced by an A-lister (seriously, Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Seth McFarlane and John C. Reilly in the same movie!?) and they have their recognizable traits as well, whether it is Scarlett Johansson's husky voice or Matthew McConaughey's instantly recognizable and much imitated Texan twang.
When you couple that with a strong characterization in a heartwarming, if familiar, tale, you have characters that will be remembered.
And as I already told you, the musical and personality based influences to the characters' costumes are nothing but the mini cherry on top of the regular cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that are the animals in Sing. (if you caught that reference, aforementioned sundae for you!)
Sing is almost the perfect holiday movie for families with kids, really. It's got the formula down to a 't', with its heartwarming tale, stellar animation, fun renditions of popular songs and likable characters with a design that will most certainly make the younger audiences wish for their costumes.

Universal Pictures

Anthropomorphic animals, FTW!

Which brings us to the question that's on all our minds by this point?
Will Sing costumes reach the popularity level that has been held by any costume with a Minion on it?
I would genuinely not be surprised if it did, to be honest.
While Minions are great characters and they translate well to costumes, we may have reached peak Minions point as an audience. That's not to say we don't want anymore of Minions - we do, and we'll be getting them in Despicable Me 3 as well. It's just that we don't mind swapping our Minions costumes for something else for a while.
And that's where Sing costumes come in.
The characters the said costumes are based on are certainly a lot coherent and adorable than Minions (or maybe I just have a thing for talking animals, who knows), and I'd argue that Sing as a movie has more re-watch value than anything the Minions have ever been in as well.
If nothing else, who won't want to see talking animals sing!?
Just dress up in a Sing costume and try doing that for your child and see how wide a smile they'll give you!
Sing costumes will have a tough competition from Moana costumes and Zootopia costumes for the crown of the most popular animated movie costume, and you as a consumer might have an incredibly difficult time simply choosing one costume from this assortment of greats, but my God, this is gonna be great problem to have!
Normally, we're all for simplifying your life, but with how deliciously complicated the animated costumes race has gotten with the addition of Sing costumes to the mix, we'd be remiss not to complicate your life just this once!
And we've been there for you all this while, we'll be here for you now.