EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Universal executive Jack Ledwith is set to retire at the end of the year. Currently Senior Vice President and Managing Director of International Distribution, Ledwith has been at Universal for 21 years and worked in film distribution for 42. Prior to joining Uni in 1996, he held positions at Avco…

UPDATED, TUES. 10:30 AM: All grosses have been updated below. Looking ahead, Warner Bros. should see its Christopher Nolan epic Dunkirk cross the $400M worldwide milestone this week just as its superhero film Wonder Woman crossed $800M this weekend, with Japan to come on Friday. The studio’s Annabelle: Creation also…

Illumination’s Despicable Me series of films has surpassed the Shrek movies to become the highest-grossing animated franchise of all time worldwide. A $21.2M international weekend on Despicable Me 3 has pushed the franchise to a $3.528B global total for Gru and the Minions. That tops the Shrek stable of five pics…

Here’s the first trailer for Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me spinoff starring the word-challenged yellow folks who “all share the same goal: to serve the most despicable master around.” Their well-intentioned bumbling leads to the demise of dinosaurs, Napoleon, Dracula and others, until Kevin…

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, November 18, 2013—Universal Pictures today announced that the studio has set a new record for its highest-grossing year ever at the North American box office with a total of $1.352 billion through Sunday. The previous record was set in 2012 with total grosses having reached $1.335 billion. The…

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Minions in 3D will be released on July 10, 2015. It originally was slated for release on December 19, 2014. In addition, the release date for Illumination’s Untitled Project in 3D will move from July 3, 2015, to February 12, 2016. As of now, Minions has the July 10…

EXCLUSIVE: Playing against her America’s Sweetheart status, Sandra Bullock has been set to provide the lead villain voice in Minions, the Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment spinoff of the Despicable Me franchise. Bullock will voice Scarlet Overkill, a stylish bad-ass super-villain who is (what else?) bent…

(SANTA MONICA, CA & TOKYO, JAPAN) September 5th, 2012 –Illumination Entertainment, creators of Universal Pictures’ Despicable Me and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, and Fuji  Television, Japan’s leading broadcast television network and film production company, today announced a strategic alliance in Japan. The deal brings…

EXCLUSIVE: After coming right out of the gate with the animated hit Despicable Me and turning it into a sequel and a just-opened 3D theme park ride at Universal Studios Orlando, Chris Meledandri's Illumination Entertainment has set an untitled feature spinoff based on The Minions as its fifth feature film with Universa…

Three months ago, when Big Media CEOs wrapped up their 2Q earnings, they were still relentlessly upbeat about the business. Any worries about the economy? Not then. But the messages they delivered over the past few weeks, as they discussed 3Q, were different. Although they’re still optimistic — remember, they’re paid…

EXCLUSIVE: This is the reason that Universal Studios president/COO Ron Meyer and his team trekked to Arkansas last week for a personal visit to the Wal-Mart headquarters. I’ve just learned that Universal’s first family film/toon unit from Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me made first-day…

The controversial 38th International Animated Film Society's Annie Awards announced their nominees for Best Animated Feature today:  Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me, DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon, Sony Pictures Classics’ The Illusionist, and Disney’s Tangled and Toy Story 3. What…