Illumination (company)

Illumination
Company type	Division
Industry	Animation; Motion pictures
Founded	January 17, 2007; 17 years ago
Founder	Chris Meledandri
Headquarters	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Key people	Chris Meledandri (CEO); Peter Schube (COO)
Products	Animated films
Owner	NBCUniversal; (Comcast)
Number of employees	100 (2016)
Parent	Universal Pictures
Subsidiaries	Illumination Mac Guff
Website	Official website

Illumination is an American movie and animation studio. It is founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 and is owned by Universal Pictures,^[4]^[5]^[6] a division of NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal is a division of Comcast. The Minions are Illumination's mascots.

Feature movies

Released movies

#	Title	Release date	Distributor/Co-production with	Animation service	Released by	Notes
1	Despicable Me	July 9, 2010	Universal Pictures	Mac Guff	Theatrical	First Illumination in 3D.
2	Hop	April 1, 2011	Universal Pictures Relativity Media	Rhythm & Hues		First-Latest Illlumination’s Live-Action.
3	The Lorax	March 2, 2012	Universal Pictures Dr. Seuss Enterprises	Illumination Mac Guff Mac Guff		Second Illumination in 3D. First Illumination in IMAX. First Illumination’s Musical.
4	Despicable Me 2	July 3, 2013	Universal Pictures	Illumination Mac Guff		Third Illumination in 3D.
5	Minions	July 10, 2015				Fourth Illumination in 3D. Second Illumination in IMAX.
6	The Secret Life Of Pets	July 8, 2016				Fifth Illumination in 3D. Third Illumination in IMAX.
7	Sing	December 21, 2016				Sixth Illumination in 3D. Second Illumination’s Musical.
8	Despicable Me 3	June 30, 2017				Seventh Illumination in 3D. Fourth Illumination in IMAX.
9	The Grinch	November 9, 2018	Universal Pictures Dr. Seuss Enterprises			Eighth Illumination in 3D. Fifth Illumination in IMAX. Third Illumination’s Musical.
10	The Secret Life Of Pets 2	June 7, 2019	Universal Pictures			Ninth Illumination in 3D.
11	Sing 2	December 22, 2021		Illumination Studios Paris		Tenth Illumination in 3D. Fourth Illumination’s Musical.
12	Minions: The Rise Of Gru	July 1, 2022				Eleventh Illumimation in 3D. Sixth Illumination in IMAX.
13	The Super Mario Bros. Movie	April 5, 2023	Universal Pictures Nintendo			Twelveth Illumination in 3D. Seventh Illumination in IMAX.
14	Migration	December 22, 2023	Universal Pictures			Thirteenth Illumination in 3D.
15	Despicable Me 4	July 3, 2024	Universal Pictures			Fourteenth Illumination in 3D. Eighth Illumination in IMAX.

Upcoming

#	Title	Release date	Distributor/Co-production with	Animation service
16	The Iron Robot	July 11, 2025	Universal Pictures Cartoon Saloon	Illumination Studios Paris Cartoon Saloon
17	Everest	December 5, 2025	Universal Pictures	Illumination Studios Paris
18	Untitled The Super Mario Bros. Movie follow-up film	April 3, 2026	Universal Pictures Nintendo
19	Minions 3	June 30, 2027	Universal Pictures

In development


Title	Notes
The Secret Life Of Pets 3
Sing 3
Untitled Pharrell Williams film

Short movies

Released shorts

#	Title	Release date	Co-production with	Animation service	Release with	Notes
1	Home Makeover	December 14, 2010	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	Mac Guff	Despicable Me	Home media release
2	Orientation Day
3	Banana
4	Brad & Gary	July 1, 2011	Universal Pictures	Illumination Mac Guff	N/A	Theatrical release
5	Phil's Dance Party	March 23, 2012	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	Rhythm and Hues	Hop	Home media release
6	Wagon Ho!	August 7, 2012	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Dr. Seuss Enterprises	Illumination Mac Guff	The Lorax
7	Forces of Nature
8	Serenade
9	Puppy	December 10, 2013	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment		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	Universal Pictures		The Secret Life Of Pets	Theatrical release
16	Norman Television	December 6, 2016	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment			Home media release
17	Weenie	December 6, 2016
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	Universal Pictures		The Grinch	Theatrical release
23	The Dog Days of Winter	November 23, 2018	NBCUniversal Dr. Seuss Enterprises			Television release
24	Santa's Little Helpers	February 5, 2019	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment			Home media release
25	Minion Scouts	June 7, 2019	Universal Pictures		The Secret Life Of Pets 2	Theatrical release
26	Super Gidget	August 27, 2019	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment		The Secret Life Of Pets 2	Home media release
27	Minions & Monsters	June 11, 2021	NBCUniversal		Minions: The Rise of Gru	Television release
28	For Gunter's Eyes Only	March 29, 2022	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	Illumination Studios Paris	Sing 2	Home media release
29	Animal Attraction	March 29, 2022			Sing 2
30	Post Modern Minions	September 6, 2022			Minions: The Rise Of Gru
31	Peneglai	September 16, 2022	Universal Pictures	One and All Animation Studio	N/A	Limited Theatrical Release
32	Mooned	December 22, 2023	Universal Pictures	Illumination Studios Paris	Migration	Theatrical release
33	Fly Hard	February 27, 2024	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment			Home media release
34	Midnight Mission	February 27, 2024
35	Benny's Birthday	September 24, 2024			Despicable Me 4
36	Game Over and Over	September 24, 2024			Despicable Me 4

Television specials

Title	Release date	Distribution/co-production with	Animation service(s)	Network(s)	Shorts included
Minions Holiday Special	November 27, 2020	NBCUniversal Television Distribution	Illumination Mac Guff	NBC	Santa's Little Helpers, Training Wheels, Puppy, and Minion Scouts

Compilations

Title	Release date	Distribution/co-production with	Animation service(s)	Streaming service(s)	Shorts included
Minions & More 1	September 20, 2022	Universal Pictures	Illumination Studios Paris	Netflix	Puppy, The Dog Days of Winter, Minion Scouts, Norman Television, Training Wheels, Love at First Sight, The Secret Life of Kyle, Weenie, Forces of Nature, and Santa's Little Helpers
Minions & More 2	November 8, 2022	Universal Pictures	Illumination Studios Paris	Netflix	Mower Minions, Super Gidget, Yellow is the New Black, Eddie's Life Coach, Competition, Serenade, Cro Minion, Wagon Ho!, Binky Nelson Unpacified, Panic in the Mailroom, and Gunter Babysits

Miscellaneous work

#	Title	Release date	Notes
1	Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem	July 2, 2012	Theme Park Ride
2	The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!	April 16, 2021	Theme Park Ride

Series

Web series

Title	Premiere date	End date	Network(s)
Saturday Morning Minions	June 5, 2021	March 5, 2022	Facebook Instagram
Who's Who?	July 13, 2023	August 3, 2023	TikTok YouTube
Bones Story	TBA		TikTok YouTube

Other medias

#	Title	Release date	Co-production with	Animation service	Release with
1	Minion Moments: Drenched	December 5, 2017	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	Alfred Imageworks	Despicable Me 3
2	Minion Moments: Overkill	December 5, 2017	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	Method Studios	Despicable Me 3

Movie franchises

Title	Release date
Despicable Me	2010-present
Dr. Seuss	2012-2018
The Secret Life Of Pets	2016-present
Sing	2016-present
The Super Mario Bros. Movie	2023-present

Video Games

Title	Year	Platform	Publisher	Developer
Depicable Me: The Game	2010	Nintendo Wii Nintendo DS PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable	D3 Publisher	Monkey Bar Games
Hop	2011	Nintendo DS		505 Games
Minion Rush	2013	iOS Google Play		Gameloft
Minions Paradise	2015	iOS Google Play		Electronic Arts

References

↑ Gaita, Paul (December 5, 2017). "Illumination's Chris Meledandri Melds Together Cinematic Art and Cutting-Edge Technology". Variety. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
↑ McNary, Dave (February 23, 2017). "Illumination Taps Peter Schube as Chief Operating Officer". Variety. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
↑ Richford, Rhonda (December 9, 2016). "An Inside Look at Illumination's 24/7 Operation, From L.A. to Paris". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
↑ Debruge, Peter (July 17, 2013). "Illumination Chief Chris Meledandri Lines Up Originals for Universal". Variety. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
↑ Kilday, Gregg (December 9, 2016). "Illumination's Chris Meledandri Talks Success Secrets, Rumors He'll Head DreamWorks". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
↑ "Why Illumination Entertainment Is One Of The Most Innovative Companies Of 2017". Fast Company. February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.

[VarietyMeldsArtTechnology-1] Gaita, Paul (December 5, 2017). "Illumination's Chris Meledandri Melds Together Cinematic Art and Cutting-Edge Technology". Variety. Retrieved March 30, 2018.

[VarietyTapsSchube-2] McNary, Dave (February 23, 2017). "Illumination Taps Peter Schube as Chief Operating Officer". Variety. Retrieved March 30, 2018.

[THRInsideLook247-3] Richford, Rhonda (December 9, 2016). "An Inside Look at Illumination's 24/7 Operation, From L.A. to Paris". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2018.

[VarietyOriginals-4] Debruge, Peter (July 17, 2013). "Illumination Chief Chris Meledandri Lines Up Originals for Universal". Variety. Retrieved September 13, 2013.

[THRSecretsRumors-5] Kilday, Gregg (December 9, 2016). "Illumination's Chris Meledandri Talks Success Secrets, Rumors He'll Head DreamWorks". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 22, 2017.

[FastCompanyInnovative2017-6] "Why Illumination Entertainment Is One Of The Most Innovative Companies Of 2017". Fast Company. February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[1]

[2]

[3]