Latest in Illumination

Editor’s note: Before he founded and became CEO of the Universal-based animation factory Illumination, Chris Meledandri was tasked with building an animation division at Fox. Early on, the president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation in 1998 acquired Blue Sky Studios for the studio. The Westchester, NY-based animation…

Sam Bergen, whose background includes executive stints at Vice Media and Beats by Dr. Dre, has been named chief marketing officer at Illumination. He will oversee all aspects of the company's creative and business marketing, overseeing print and audio-visual advertising as well as graphic and product design.  Gail…

The World Health Organization, the United Nations Foundation and Chris Meledandri's Illumination have partnered to launch a PSA that lends Despicable Me's Gru — voiced by Steve Carell — and the Minions to reinforce safe and healthy practices during these challenging times. The PSA focuses on lifesaving behaviors to…

Live-action film production as we know it, from Jurassic World: Dominion to The Batman, remains shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, with myriad headaches involved in figuring out how exactly to return, from the possible elimination of group extras to paring down crew sizes. But throughout this entire COVID-19…

When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn't about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysteri…

Last week, Illumination/Universal's Minions: The Rise of Gru stepped off of its global release which had been set for late June in some offshore markets and for July 3 domestically. It has now been scheduled for July 2, 2021, taking the slot that belonged to Sing 2, which in turn now is headed to Christmas 2021…

Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru has been moved off of its global release which was previously set for late June in some offshore markets and for July 3 domestically. This is another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic as Illumination’s Mac Guff studio in Paris has been temporarily shuttered in…

EXCLUSIVE: We have learned that Chris Meledandri’s animation studio Illumination has struck an overall writing deal with award-winning playwright and screenwriter Greg Kalleres. Kalleres has a number of projects already in the works. He’s currently writing the feature project The Day Donny Herbert Woke Up based on the…

Illumination knows how to do it, and they’ve done it again with my favorite animated franchise. In fact, I would say The Secret Life of Pets 2 even tops the first one in laughs, heart and gorgeous animation. I am at a loss as to why this outfit doesn’t get the same critical love as a Pixar or DreamWorks Animation as…

Universal and Illumination have set on a title for the sequel to their hit 2015 animated film Minions, itself a spinoff of the Despicable Me franchise. The latest film, now titled Minions: The Rise of Gru, had already set a July 3, 2020, release date. The title suggests the plot could be an origin story of sorts…

The Visual Effects Society has chosen Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri to receive the group’s VES Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019. It will be presented as part of the 17th annual VES Awards on February 5 at the Beverly Hilton. The honor, bestowed by the VES board of directors, “recognizes an outstanding body of…

With Tuesday’s numbers included, Illumination and Universal Pictures' The Grinch steered the sleigh across the half-billion mark worldwide. The split is $270M domestic and $231M at the international box office for $501M global. This is the 6th title from the folks at Chris Meledandri’s animation powerhouse to reach…