Illumination

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, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing franchises, the adaptations of Dr. Seuss' books The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and adaptations of video games such as Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse and Roblox Cinematic Universe. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the mascots of the studio.

Illumination has produced 16 feature films, with an average gross of $711 million per film. The studio's highest-grossing films are Roblox ($1.5 million), The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.362 billion), The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2: Galactic Chaos ($1.2 billion), Minions ($1.159 billion), and Despicable Me 3 ($1.034 billion). All five films are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and eleven of their films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films.

History
Meledandri left as President of 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios in early 2007. While at those companies he supervised or executive-produced movies including Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Robots, and Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!. After leaving, he founded Illumination Entertainment and a deal was announced positioning Illumination Entertainment as NBCUniversal's family entertainment arm, that would produce one to two films a year starting in 2010. As part of the deal, Illumination retains creative control and Universal Pictures exclusively distributes the films.

In 2011, Illumination acquired the animation department of the French animation and visual effects studio Mac Guff, which animated Despicable Me and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, and formed Illumination Mac Guff (later Illumination Studios Paris).

On August 22, 2016, NBCUniversal acquired competing studio DreamWorks Animation, which fueled speculation that Meledandri was to oversee both studios. While he had been approached by NBCUniversal to oversee both studios, he turned down the offer and later explained "I love the process of making films and working with artists. I don't think I'm particularly great at managing companies".

On September 23, 2022, Illumination announced its hiring of former Netflix head of adult animation Mike Moon as senior creative advisor, and a new label led by Moon known as Moonlight, which will aim to "produce animated films that push beyond the family genre".

On November 18, 2026, Illumination formed a new label known as Illumination Television, which will aim to "make TV shows that are either original or based on their franchise", as a result of the production of Roblox: The TV Series.

Process
In a similar fashion to Sony Pictures Animation and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Illumination does not produce its films in-house where it is based in Santa Monica, but rather outsources the animation production of its films to other studios. Most of its films are animated by Illumination Studios Paris, a subsidiary formed through the purchase of Mac Guff (which animated the first Despicable Me). So far, the only Illumination film not to be animated by Illumination Studios Paris or Mac Guff was Hop, which was animated by Rhythm & Hues Studios. Illumination does however produce alongside other studios such as Wētā FX, Scriptbloxian Animation (both made Roblox Cinematic Universe), and Nintendo Pictures (Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse). Not unlike Pixar, in its early days Illumination depended on a core group of directors and writers to create its films. The directors of Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, also directed or co-directed Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, Despicable Me 2, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, and Despicable Me 3. Screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (who had written Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! for Meledandri at Fox) wrote or co-wrote Despicable Me, Hop, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, Despicable Me 2, The Secret Life of Pets, and Despicable Me 3, while screenwriter Brian Lynch wrote or co-wrote Hop, Minions, and The Secret Life of Pets.

Illumination's films generally have a budget between $60–80 million. Meledandri prefers to keep Illumination adhering to a low-cost model, recognising that "strict cost controls and hit animated films are not mutually exclusive". In an industry where film expenses often exceed $100 million, Illumination's first two releases were completed with significantly lower budgets, considering Despicable Me 's $69 million budget and Hop 's $63 million budget. One way the company sustains a lean financial model is by employing cost-conscious animation techniques that lower the expenses and render times of its computer graphics. To date, Roblox is the studio's most expensive film, with a $350 million budget. After the film's release, Illumination films have started to have much higher costs in the $90-150 million range.