Despicable Me 3 | |
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Directed by | |
Written by | Cinco Paul Ken Daurio |
Produced by | |
Starring |
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Edited by | Claire Dodgson |
Music by |
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Production companies | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures [1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $80 million [3] |
Box office | $1.035 billion [4] |
Despicable Me 3 is a 2017 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination, and distributed by Universal. It is the sequel to Despicable Me 2 (2013), the third main installment, and the fourth overall installment in the Despicable Me franchise. The film was directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, co-directed by production and character designer Eric Guillon, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, from a screenplay by the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker, Coffin, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Jenny Slate, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel, and Julie Andrews. In the film, Gru teams up with his long-lost twin brother Dru to stop Balthazar Bratt, a former child actor of the 1980s, from destroying Hollywood after his show was canceled years ago.
Development on a third main Despicable Me film began in 2013 with Coffin returning as director alongside Balda. The film was in the early writing stages by 2014, while the cast was announced in 2016. Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams returned for the music like the first two films.
Despicable Me 3 debuted at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 14, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 30. Despite mixed reviews, it grossed $1.035 billion worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time during its theatrical run. A sequel, Despicable Me 4 , was released in 2024.
Married Anti-Villain League (AVL) agents Felonious Gru and Lucy Wilde are sent to recover the stolen Dumont Diamond from Balthazar Bratt, a former child star who became a supervillain after his show, Evil Bratt, was canceled. Gru recovers the diamond, while Bratt escapes. At the AVL headquarters, director Silas Ramsbottom announces his retirement, and appoints board member Valerie Da Vinci as the new director. Da Vinci dismisses Gru and Lucy from the AVL, believing they should have captured Bratt during the mission.
When Gru and Lucy return home, they tell their adopted daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes of their dismissal, but assure them they will soon have new jobs. When Gru refuses to return to being a supervillain, and with his assistant Dr. Nefario accidentally frozen in carbonite, [lower-alpha 1] most of his Minions, led by Mel, abandon him to find new jobs. They eventually land in jail after accidentally crashing into a television studio.
A butler named Fritz arrives at Gru's home with an invitation from his long-lost twin brother Dru, who lives in a distant country named Freedonia. The family travels to meet Dru, and are surprised by his immense wealth and mansion. Meanwhile, Bratt steals the diamond again, intending to use it to power a giant robot that will destroy Hollywood, as revenge for his show's cancelation. Dru reveals to Gru that their dead father was a supervillain known as "the Bald Terror", whose villainous activities and technological advances are the real source of the family's wealth. Dru wants Gru to teach him how to become a villain, but Gru refuses to revert to his old ways. While Lucy struggles with her new tasks as a mother, Dru and Gru become closer after joyriding in their father's high-tech vehicle.
Gru and Dru decide to steal the diamond; however, Gru secretly intends to bring it to the AVL to convince Da Vinci to rehire him and Lucy. They narrowly escape with the diamond and are rescued by Lucy. Dru, finding out Gru's true motives, is upset that Gru lied about teaching him how to be a villain. In return, Gru berates Dru for his incompetence, disowns him, and decides to leave Freedonia.
Bratt, disguised as Lucy, kidnaps the girls, and once again acquires the diamond. Discovering this, Gru and Dru put aside their differences; the brothers and Lucy set off after Bratt in the Bald Terror's vehicle. The Minions, having escaped jail, manage to follow them. With his robot's laser powered by the diamond, Bratt terrorizes Hollywood, covering it in superpowered bubble gum in hopes of lifting the city into outer space. Lucy rescues the girls from a falling skyscraper as Bratt sends Gru and Dru crash-landing into the streets of Hollywood. Bratt tries to kill Gru with the robot's laser, but Dru risks his life to break into the robot and power it down from the inside. Gru engages Bratt in a dance fight before stealing his weaponized keytar to defeat him, and send him float away in bubble gum just as AVL helicopters arrive in time. As the Minions pop the bubble gum bubbles covering the city, Dru and Gru reconcile, and share an embrace with Lucy, Margo, Edith and Agnes.
Gru and Lucy are reinstated into the AVL. The newly united family celebrates in Gru's home, and the girls acknowledge Lucy as their mother. Still wishing to be a supervillain, Dru, along with most of the Minions, steals Gru's rocket-powered aircraft and flies away. Gru and Lucy decide to give them a five-minute head-start before engaging in pursuit.
Additionally, Andy Nyman voices Clive the robot, Bratt's sidekick, [10] and Adrian Ciscato voices Niko, a boy from Freedonia who falls in love with Margo. [10]
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Development of Despicable Me 3 began in 2013, when production and character designer Eric Guillon began supervising the process as a co-director with Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, both of whom had concluded work on Minions (2015). [14] [15] While the development was underway in 2014, Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri reported that the film was in early writing stages. [16] The production team intended to give each Despicable Me film its own "larger narrative positioning", allowing the expansion of the main characters' stories. [14]
In April 2016, it was reported that Steve Carell would reprise his role as Gru and also voice his twin brother Dru, and that Trey Parker was cast as Balthazar Bratt. [6] In September 2016, it was announced that Miranda Cosgrove and Kristen Wiig would reprise their roles as Margo and Lucy Wilde, respectively, and that Nev Scharrel would replace Elsie Fisher as Agnes. [8] [13]
The soundtrack for Despicable Me 3 was released on June 23, 2017. Pharrell Williams released the new song "Yellow Light" for the soundtrack, which was made available through digital download and streaming. [17]
The marketing campaign of Despicable Me 3 included promotions, such as the star ratings being replaced with the Minions during Amazon's "Minion Day", and BuzzFeed's "character takeover" badges. In New York City, 600 taxicabs had the sculpted Minions atop of them, of which had a Minionese greeting. Additional marketing partners for the film included 23 & Me, Chiquita, Ferrero, Kellogg's, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, Topps, and Yummy Spoonfuls. [18]
Despicable Me 3 debuted at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 14, 2017, [19] followed by a premiere on June 24, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. [20] [21] The film was released in the United States on June 30. [22]
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Despicable Me 3 for digital download on November 21, 2017, and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 5. Physical copies contain The AVL Database, behind-the-scenes featurettes, character descriptions, a Freedonian map, a deleted scene, a "Doowit" sing-along version, Minion mugshots and posters, a short film The Secret Life of Kyle, and a "Yellow Light" music video. [23]
Despicable Me 3 earned $264.6 million in the United States and Canada and $770.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.034 billion. [4] It was the fourth highest-grossing film of 2017 and the fourth highest-grossing animated film of all time. [24] [25] Deadline Hollywood calculated its net profit at $366.2 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participation, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it third on their list of 2017's "Most Valuable Blockbusters". [3]
In the United States and Canada, Despicable Me 3 was released with The House and Baby Driver . [26] The film grossed $29.2 million on its first day, [27] including $4.1 million from Thursday night previews. [28] During its opening weekend, Despicable Me 3 grossed $75.4 million across 4,529 theaters, which was increased to 4,535 the following week, making it the number-one film. This surpassed the record of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse 's (2010) 4,468 theaters to become the widest release ever until Avengers: Endgame (2019) took over with 4,662. [lower-alpha 2] The film fell to number two in its second weekend with a gross of $34 million, [33] and number six in its third with $19.4 million. [34] Despicable Me 3 left theaters by December 21, 2017. [35]
Worldwide, Despicable Me 3 grossed $9.9 million during its opening weekend in five markets on June 16. [36] This was followed by its third weekend, grossing $95.6 million with an increased market count of 46. [37] Its top international markets were China ($158.2 million), Japan ($66.2 million), the United Kingdom ($62.7 million), Germany ($43.8 million), and France ($41.4 million). [38]
The film has an approval rating of 58% based on 195 professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.7/10. Its critical consensus reads, "Despicable Me 3 should keep fans of the franchise consistently entertained with another round of colorful animation and zany—albeit somewhat scattershot—humor." [39] Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [40] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, down from the first two films' and Minions 's (2015) "A". [30]
Alex Welch of IGN gave the film a six out of ten score, saying, "It's not much, but Despicable Me 3 is at least enough for the younger fans of the franchise." [41] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Despicable Me 3 is unwieldy, but it mostly works, as co-directors Pierre Coffin (who also voices the Minions) and Kyle Balda never lose sight of the film's emotional center, packing the rest with as much humor as they can manage. The jokes come so fast and furious, the movie can hardly find room for Heitor Pereira's funky score, and though Pharrell Williams has contributed five new songs to sell soundtracks (including the sweet "There's Something Special"), the movie hardly needs them." [42] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a mixed review, saying: "Ultimately, none of these flaws will matter to the throngs of little kids who have made the previous Despicable Me movies (and the superior Minions spin-off) into giant global hits." [43]
Sandy Schaefer for Screen Rant gives the film a three stars out of five saying "Despicable Me 3 offers enough in the way of zany, irreverent entertainment (with a dose of heart) to please steadfast fans of the franchise." [44] Jordan Mintzer for The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review saying "This rather clever, breakneck-paced cartoon gives fans exactly what they want: Like the new nemesis voiced by Trey Parker, it shoots multiple machine-gun bursts of bubblegum at the audience, asking them to chew and enjoy" [45] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three stars out of four, saying "Pierre Coffin (who voices the Minions) and co-director Kyle Balda keep the plot spinning merrily. Pharrell Williams contributes five new songs to the mix, including the hummable "There's Something Special." It's no mystery why Illumination's franchise is still something special after three go-rounds—the box-office gross is a whopping $1.5 billion and counting." [46] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a 'B' grade, saying "What shines through is the visual wit and innate sweetness of the storytelling, and Carell's cackling, cueball-skulled misanthrope a (mostly) reformed scoundrel who can still have his cake, and arsenic too." [47]
The Minions' nonsense pastiche of the "Major-General's Song" was termed "amusing" (in an otherwise negative review) [48] and "the film’s finest moment"; [49] it was uploaded to YouTube by Illumination as a singalong challenge and had garnered more than 19 million views as of 2023. [50]
Despicable Me 3's success resulted in the development of a sequel. [73] Despicable Me 4 was released in 2024, after a long production involving a perfectly balanced story as Minions: The Rise of Gru was delayed in 2022. [74] [75] It polarized critics, and was a box office success. [76]
Steven John Carell is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom The Office, and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, and director. Carell has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for The Office. He was recognized as "America's Funniest Man" by Life.
Despicable Me is a 2010 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, and the SPA Studios, and distributed by Universal. The film had many firsts, including it being the first one of the franchise of the same name, the inaugural feature from Illumination, and the directorial debuts of Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. It was produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy, and John Cohen, from a screenplay by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, based on a story by Sergio Pablos. Despicable Me stars the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Jack McBrayer, and Julie Andrews. The film follows Felonious Gru, a longtime supervillain who adopts three orphan girls to use as pawns in a villainous scheme but reluctantly develops an emotional attachment to them.
Illumination, formerly known as Illumination Entertainment, is an American animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 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.
Christopher Meledandri is an American film producer and founder and CEO of Illumination. He previously served as President of 20th Century Fox Animation, and has worked as the producer for the film series of Ice Age, Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets and Sing. In 2021, he joined Nintendo's board of directors after working with the video game company on The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Meledandri also collaborates with Illumination's corporate sibling DreamWorks Animation on reviving the Shrek franchise.
Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin is a French animator, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. He is best known for co-directing the first four installments in the Despicable Me franchise and being the primary voice of the Minions, which won him the Kids Family Award at the 10th Seiyu Awards. He also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Despicable Me 2.
Despicable Me 2 is a 2013 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. It is the sequel to Despicable Me (2010) and the second installment in the Despicable Me franchise. The film was directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, and written by the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, and Ken Jeong. The film follows retired supervillain Gru as he is recruited by secret agent Lucy Wilde to investigate the theft of a powerful mutagen by El Macho, a supervillain who seeks to achieve world domination.
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem is an animated simulator ride attraction located at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Japan, and Universal Studios Beijing, as well as upcoming to Universal Studios Singapore. The attraction is based on Universal Pictures and Illumination's animated film Despicable Me (2010) and its franchise. While it is an opening day attraction in Beijing, it replaced Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast in Florida, T2-3D: Battle Across Time in Hollywood, Back to the Future: The Ride in Japan and Madagascar: A Crate Adventure in Singapore.
Despicable Me is an American media franchise created by Sergio Pablos, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It centers on a former supervillain turned secret agent named Gru, his adoptive daughters, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and his yellow-colored Minions. The franchise is produced by Illumination and distributed by its parent company Universal Pictures.
Minions is a 2015 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. The film is a prequel to Despicable Me (2010) and the third installment overall in the Despicable Me franchise. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, and written by Brian Lynch, Minions stars the voices of Coffin as the titular beings, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, and Geoffrey Rush as the narrator. In the film, the Minions search for their replaceable evil master after accidentally killing all of those in history.
Minions are a fictional all-male species of yellow creatures that appear in Illumination's Despicable Me franchise. They are characterized by their childlike behavior and their language, which is largely unintelligible.
Illumination Studios Paris is a French animated feature production company owned by Illumination, a division of Universal Pictures. Based in Paris, France, the company was created in 2011 as part of Universal's purchase deal of the animation arm of French animation and VFX company Mac Guff. It is responsible for the animation on Illumination's feature-length animated films and associated short films, most notably the Despicable Me franchise.
The Secret Life of Pets is a 2016 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. It was directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, from a screenplay written by Brian Lynch and the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. The film stars the voices of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan, and Albert Brooks.
Kyle Balda is an American animator and film director, best known for co-directing the Illumination films The Lorax (2012), with Chris Renaud; Minions (2015) and Despicable Me 3 (2017), with Pierre Coffin; and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), with Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val. He previously worked as an animator for Industrial Light & Magic before moving to Pixar where he worked on three of their films.
Felonious Gru Sr., alternatively spelled as Felonius Gru and typically referred to simply as Gru, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Despicable Me franchise. Voiced by American actor Steve Carell, he has appeared in all six films in the series. Gru is a grouchy, quick-witted, and cynical former supervillain, who serves as a secret agent in order to fight other supervillains.
Minions: The Rise of Gru, also known as Minions 2, is a 2022 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination, and distributed by Universal. It is the sequel to Minions (2015), a prequel to Despicable Me (2010), and the fifth entry overall in the Despicable Me franchise. The film was directed by Kyle Balda, co-directed by Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val, and produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy and Chris Renaud, from a screenplay written by Matthew Fogel, and a story by Fogel and Brian Lynch. It features Steve Carell reprising his role as Gru and Pierre Coffin as the Minions, along with Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Steve Coogan, and Julie Andrews reprising their respective roles as Dr. Nefario, Mr. Perkins, Silas Ramsbottom, and Gru's mother Marlena. New cast members include Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, and Alan Arkin. In the film, an eleven-year-old Gru plans to become a supervillain with the help of his Minions, which leads to a showdown with a malevolent team, the Vicious 6.
Despicable Me 4 is a 2024 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination, and distributed by Universal. It is the sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017), the fourth main installment, and the sixth overall installment in the Despicable Me franchise. The film was directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Patrick Delage, produced by Chris Meledandri and Brett Hoffman, and written by Mike White and Ken Daurio. It stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Sofía Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Renaud, Madison Polan, Dana Gaier, Chloe Fineman, and Will Ferrell. The film sees reformed supervillain and secret agent Gru (Carell) relocate his family to a safe house when his old rival Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell) seeks revenge. Subplots deal with Gru's family adjusting to their new lives, teenage neighbor Poppy Prescott (King) trying to follow in Gru's villainous footsteps, and a group of Gru's Minions (Coffin) becoming superheroes.