Illumination (company)

Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American animation studio founded by producer Chris Meledandri on January 17, 2007. It has an "exclusive financing and distribution partnership" with Universal Pictures (which itself is a division of Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, a unit of NBCUniversal) wherein Illumination produces the films as an independent contractor and 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, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the mascots of the studio.

Illumination has produced 15 feature films, with an average gross of $711 million per film. Its first film, Despicable Me, was released on July 9, 2010, and its latest film, Despicable Me 4, was released on July 3, 2024; their upcoming slate of films includes The Super Mario Galaxy Movie on April 1, 2026, and Minions & Monsters on July 1, 2026. Two of the studio's films—Minions (2015) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)—are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with the latter having the highest-grossing opening for an animated film in its initial release; eight of their films are also among the 50 highest-grossing animated films.