Illumination Entertainment

Illumination, formerly known as Illumination Entertainment, is an American animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri on January 17, 2007, after leaving 20th Century Fox Animation and is a division of 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 best known for creating the Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing franchises, as well as 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 their films—The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Minions (2015) and Despicable Me 3 (2017)—are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and 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 Bros. Movie 2 on April 3, 2026 and Minions 3 on June 30, 2027