Despicable Me in the context of "Minions (film)"

Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri on January 17, 2007. It is a division of Universal Pictures, which itself is a division of Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, a unit of NBCUniversal; Illumination produces the films, while Universal finances and distributes them. The studio is best known for creating the Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing franchises; the adaptations of Dr. Seuss' books The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; and Nintendo video games, starting with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the mascots of the studio.

Illumination has produced 15 feature films, with an average gross of $711 million per film. Three of the studio's films—Minions (2015), Despicable Me 3 (2017) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)—are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with the latter having the highest-grossing opening for an animated film in its initial release; eight of their films are also among the 50 highest-grossing animated films. Its first film, Despicable Me, was released on July 9, 2010, and its latest film, Despicable Me 4, was released 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. Additionally, an untitled film is scheduled for release on April 16, 2027.

Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assessing the success of a film, mostly because of the availability of the data compared to sales figures for home video and broadcast rights, but also because of historical practice. Included on the list are charts of the top box-office earners (ranked by both the nominal and real value of their revenue), a chart of high-grossing films by calendar year, a timeline showing the transition of the highest-grossing film record, and a chart of the highest-grossing film franchises and series. All charts are ranked by international theatrical box-office performance where possible, excluding income derived from home video, broadcasting rights, and merchandise.

Traditionally, war films, musicals, and historical dramas have been the most popular genres, but franchise films have been among the best performers of the 21st century. There is strong interest in the superhero genre, with eleven films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring among the nominal top-earners. The most successful superhero film, Avengers: Endgame, is also the second-highest-grossing film on the nominal earnings chart, and there are four films in total based on the Avengers comic books charting in the top twenty. Other Marvel Comics adaptations have also had success with the Spider-Man and X-Men properties, while films based on Batman and Superman from DC Comics have generally performed well. Star Wars is also represented in the nominal earnings chart with five films, while the Jurassic Park franchise features prominently. Although the nominal earnings chart is dominated by films adapted from pre-existing properties and sequels, it is headed by Avatar, which is an original work. Animated family films have performed consistently well, with Disney films enjoying lucrative re-releases prior to the home-video era. Disney also enjoyed later success with films such as Frozen and its sequel, and The Lion King (along with its computer-animated remake), as well as its Pixar division, of which Inside Out 2, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 3 and 4 have been the best performers. Beyond Disney and Pixar animation, China's Ne Zha 2 (the highest-grossing animated film), and the Despicable Me and Shrek series have met with the most success.

Included in the list are charts of the top box-office earners, a chart of high-grossing animated films by the calendar year, a timeline showing the transition of the highest-grossing animated film record, and a chart of the highest-grossing animated film franchises and series. All charts are ranked by international theatrical box office performance where possible, excluding income derived from home video, broadcasting rights and merchandise.

Animated family films have performed consistently well at the box office, with Disney enjoying lucrative re-releases prior to the home video, who have produced films such as Aladdin and The Lion King, both of which were the highest-grossing animated film of all time upon their release. Disney Animation also enjoyed later success with the Frozen and Zootopia films, in addition to Pixar, of which the films from the Toy Story, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, and Incredibles franchises have been the best performers. Beyond Disney and Pixar, franchises Despicable Me, Shrek, Ice Age, Fengshen Cinematic Universe, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, and Doraemon have been met with the most success. Additionally, the current highest-grossing animated film is Ne Zha 2, a Chinese film that has grossed over $2 billion worldwide, the first-ever animated film to reach $2 billion worldwide.

Christopher Meledandri (/mɛləˈdɑːndri/; born May 15, 1959) is an American film producer and founder and CEO of Illumination. He previously served as president of 20th Century Fox Animation, working as the executive producer for the Blue Sky Studios-produced films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). Since 2010, he has worked as the producer for the film series of Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing. In 2021, he joined Nintendo's board of directors after working with the video game company on The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). Meledandri also collaborates with Illumination's corporate sibling DreamWorks Animation since 2016.

Minions (/ˈmɪnjənz/) are a fictional all-male species of yellow creatures that appear in Illumination's Despicable Me franchise, created by Eric Guillon, Pierre Coffin, and Chris Renaud. They are characterized by their comedic behavior and their language, which is largely unintelligible.

The Minions serve as the official mascots for Illumination and have also been described by The New York Times as "corporate icons" for Comcast in the years since their 2013 purchase of Illumination's parent company NBCUniversal, similar to Mickey Mouse for The Walt Disney Company, Mario for Nintendo or Sonic for Sega.

Despicable Me 3 is a 2017 American animated comedy film directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. Produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is the sequel to Despicable Me 2 (2013) and fourth film in the Despicable Me franchise. The film stars the voices of Steve Carell (in a dual role), Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker, Coffin, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Jenny Slate, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel and Julie Andrews. In the film, Gru teams up with his long-lost twin brother Dru to stop Balthazar Bratt, a former child actor of the 1980s, from destroying Hollywood after his show was canceled years ago.

Development on a third main Despicable Me film began in 2013 with Coffin returning as director alongside Balda. The film was in the early writing stages by 2014, while the cast was announced in 2016. Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams returned for the music like the first two films.

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.

Minions 3 is an upcoming American animated comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. It will be directed by Pierre Coffin based on a screenplay by Brian Lynch, and is the sequel to Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), a prequel to Despicable Me (2010), the third film in the Minions film series, and the seventh entry overall of the Despicable Me franchise.

Minions 3 is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 1, 2026.