Despicable Me 3 in the context of "Illumination (company)"

Despicable Me is an American media franchise created by Sergio Pablos, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It centers on a supervillain turned secret agent named Gru, his adoptive daughters, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and his yellow-colored Minions. The franchise is produced by Illumination and distributed by its parent company Universal Pictures.

The franchise began with the 2010 film of the same name, which was followed by three sequels, Despicable Me 2 (2013), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Despicable Me 4 (2024) and two spin-off prequels, Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). The franchise also includes many short films, a television special, several video games, and a theme park attraction.

This is a list of productions produced by Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment), an American film and animation studio based in Santa Monica, California, United States. This includes feature films, shorts, television specials, and digital series. As of 2025, Illumination has released 15 feature films, which were all distributed by Universal Pictures, with their first being Despicable Me on July 9, 2010, and their latest being Despicable Me 4 on July 3, 2024.

Their upcoming slate of films includes The Super Mario Galaxy Movie on April 3, 2026, and Minions 3 on July 1, 2026. In addition, an untitled film is slated to be released on April 16, 2027.

Despicable Me 4 is a 2024 American animated comedy film directed by Chris Renaud and written by Mike White and Ken Daurio. Produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is the sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017) and the sixth film in the Despicable Me franchise. The film stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Stephen Colbert, Sofía Vergara, and Will Ferrell. The film sees reformed supervillain and secret agent Gru temporarily relocate his family to a safe house when his old rival Maxime Le Mal seeks revenge. Subplots deal with Gru's family adjusting to their new lives, teenage neighbor Poppy Prescott trying to follow in Gru's footsteps, and a group of Gru's Minions becoming superheroes known as the Mega Minions.

Development on a fourth main Despicable Me film began in September 2017. It was officially confirmed in February 2022, with Renaud, Delage, and White attached as director, co-director, and writer, respectively. Production was underway by June 2022. Most of the main voice cast was announced in January 2024, with Hoffman and Daurio revealed as co-producer and co-writer, respectively. Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams returned from previous installments to compose the score and write original songs and themes, respectively.