Pierre Coffin: Why There Are No Female Minions

July 13, 2015 7:22 AM EDT

There’s a reason all the heroes in the new Despicable Me spin-off are male.

Minions, which is on track to earn $100 million in its opening weekend, stars a female villain and an all-male cast of yellow, pill-shaped heroes.

It’s unusual for a movie to rely so heavily on a cast of males, but Minions creator Pierre Coffin says it’s thanks to their general cloddishness.

“Seeing how dumb and stupid they often are, I just couldn’t imagine Minions being girls,” Coffin told TheWrap.

The creatures can’t reproduce or divide themselves, Coffin has said — and maybe that’s a good thing.

Sandra Bullock stars as Scarlet Overkill, an ambitious supervillain.

Jon Hamm voices Herb Overkill, the supportive husband of supervillain Scarlett Overkill.

Michael Keaton voices Walter Nelson, a well intentioned husband and father of a family of bank robbers on a road trip to Villain-Con in Orlando.

Allison Janney plays Madge Nelson, Walter’s wife and matriarch of their family of bank-robbers.

Director Pierre Coffin reprises his role as the voices of the minions that he also played in Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.

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