Illumination Entertainment Wikia
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Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American computer animation studio, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. Illumination is owned by Meledandri and the Illumination brand is co-owned by Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Meledandri produces the films, while Universal finances and distributes them. The studio is the creator of the Despicable Me, Hop The Secret Life of Pets and Sing franchises and the film adaptations of Dr. Seuss' books The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the mascots of the studio.

History[]

Meledandri left his post as President of 20th Century Fox Animation in early DreamWorks and Pixar 2007 where he supervised or executive produced movies including Ice Age (2002), its sequel Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Madagascar (2005), Cars (2006), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). After leaving, he founded Illumination Entertainment. By 2008, a deal was announced positioning Illumination as NBC Universal’s family entertainment arm that would produce one to two films a year starting in 2010. As an independent production company, Illumination retains creative control and Universal exclusively distributes the films. During the Summer of 2011, Illumination acquired the animation department of the French animation and visual effects studio Mac Guff, which animated Despicable Me (2010) and The Lorax (2012), and formed Illumination Mac Guff.

Filmography[]

Feature films[]

Released films[]

# Title Release date Animation service(s) Budget Gross RT MC
1 Despicable Me July 9, 2010 Mac Guff $69 million $543.2 million 80% 72
2 Hop April 1, 2011 Rhythm and Hues $63 million $184.4 million 24% 41
3 The Lorax March 2, 2012 Illumination Mac Guff $70 million $349.2 million 54% 46
4 Despicable Me 2 July 3, 2013 $76 million $970.8 million 75% 62
5 Minions July 10, 2015 $74 million $1.159 billion 56% 56
6 The Secret Life of Pets July 8, 2016 $75 million $894.3 million 70% 61
7 Sing December 21, 2016 $75 million $634.3 million 71% 59
8 Despicable Me 3 June 30, 2017 $80 million $1.034 billion 59% 49
9 The Grinch November 9, 2018 $90 million $526.8 million 60% 51
10 The Secret Life of Pets 2 June 7, 2019 $80 million $431.1 million 60% 55
11 Sing 2 December 22, 2021 Illumination Studios Paris $85 million $408.4 million 72% 49
12 Minions: The Rise of Gru July 1, 2022 $80 million $939.6 million 70% 56
13 The Super Mario Bros. Movie April 5, 2023 $100 million $1.360 billion 59% 46
14 Migration December 22, 2023 $ million $ billion 73%
15 Despicable Me 4 July 3, 2024 $ million $ billion

Short films[]

# Title Release date Animation service Release with Notes
1 Home Makeover December 14, 2010 Mac Guff Despicable Me Home media release
2 Orientation Day
3 Banana
4 Brad & Gary April 1, 2011 Illumination Mac Guff Hop Theatrical release
5 Phil's Dance Party March 23, 2012 Rhythm and Hues Home media release
6 Wagon-Ho August 7, 2012 Illumination Mac Guff The Lorax
7 Forces of Nature
8 Serenade
9 Puppy December 10, 2013 Despicable Me 2
10 Panic in the Mailroom
11 Training Wheels
12 Cro Minion December 8, 2015 Minions
13 Competition
14 Binky Nelson Unpacified
15 Mower Minions July 8, 2016 The Secret Life of Pets Theatrical release
16 Norman Television December 6, 2016 Home media release
17 Weenie
18 Gunter Babysits March 21, 2017 Sing
19 Love at First Sight
20 Eddie's Life Coach
21 The Secret Life of Kyle December 5, 2017 Despicable Me 3
22 Yellow is the New Black November 9, 2018 The Grinch Theatrical release
23 The Dog Days of Winter November 23, 2018 Trolls Holiday Television release
24 Santa's Little Helpers February 5, 2019 The Grinch Home media release
25 Super Gidget August 27, 2019 The Secret Life of Pets 2
26 Minion Scouts
27 Minions & Monsters June 11, 2021 Minions: The Rise of Gru Television release
28 For Gunter's Eyes Only March 29, 2022 Illumination Studios Paris Sing 2 Home media release
29 Animal Attraction
30 Post Modern Minions September 6, 2022 Minions: The Rise of Gru
31 Penglai April 5, 2023 One and All Animation Studio The Super Mario Bros. Movie Theatrical release
32 Mooned December 22, 2023 Illumination Studios Paris Migration Theatrical release/Home video release
33 Fly Hard February 27, 2024 Home video release
34 Midnight Mission
35 Benny's Birthday August 6, 2024 Despicable Me 4
36 Game Over and Over
37 Sing: Thriller October 16, 2024 Minions & More 3 Netflix release

Upcoming films[]

# Title Release date
16 The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 April 3, 2026
17 Minions 3 July 1, 2026
18 Sing 3 TBA
19 Big Tree TBA
20 An untitled Pharrell Williams film TBA

See also[]

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