It was June 2010. I attended an advance screening of “Despicable Me” in 3D. Didn’t know what to expect from Illumination Entertainment’s first animated feature. Universal Pictures distributed some hand-drawn animated classics in the ’80s and ’90s, such as “An American Tail”, “The Land Before Time” and “Balto”. In the mid to late 2000s, they distributed adaptations of “Curious George” and “The Tale of Despereaux”, as well as the VeggieTales movie “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything!”. But with Illumination’s “Despicable Me”, Universal was betting on a new studio to put them in the same conversation as Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, Sony Pictures Animation (which, at the time, was three movies into its slate), and founder Chris Meledandri’s former home of Blue Sky Studios.

The marketing campaign began a year in advance, with an intentionally mysterious teaser trailer. More details emerged in the months that followed involving the story of supervillain turned superdad Gru. Steve Carell had already lent his voice to 2006’s “Over the Hedge”, as Hammy, and 2008’s “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”, as the Mayor of Whoville. But Gru was Carell’s first starring role in an animated film.

I was delighted by “Despicable Me” — so much heart, and of course, so much hilarity in the introduction of the Minions. I had to stay through the end credits to watch all their hijinks… which meant showing-up a few minutes late to the other screening that evening, just down the hall, of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”. But I didn’t have a problem with that. I knew right away the Minions were going to be superstars and that “Despicable Me” would charm audiences all summer long. Its opening weekend was $56 million. Thanks to strong word of mouth, it grossed over $250 million in North America, more than fellow blockbuster 2010 animated releases “Shrek Forever After”, “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Tangled”. Universal and Illumination had an instant hit and would use “From the Creators of Despicable Me” in marketing for several years.

Illumination followed-up with 2011’s live-action/animated Easter comedy “Hop”, starring Russell Brand as the voice of E.B. and James Marsden as his human pal Fred. It wasn’t quite as successful, only managing close to $200 million globally. Since then, Illumination hasn’t incorporated live-action into any of its features. 2012 saw “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”, followed by 2013’s Best Animated Feature Oscar-nominated “Despicable Me 2” (with that earworm of a “Happy” tune by Pharrell Williams). It grossed just shy of a billion bucks worldwide. 2015’s “DM” prequel “Minions” would get Illumination over that billion-dollar mark for the first time.

In 2016 there were two Illumination features in the same calendar year — “The Secret Life of Pets” and one of my favorites, “Sing”. 2017’s “Despicable Me 3” and 2018’s “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” were pretty successful. “The Secret Life of Pets 2” (2019) wasn’t as big of a hit as the first one, but there are still rumblings of a third installment in development. The long-awaited “Sing 2” was one of the first major family film hits in the post-COVID theatrical experience era at the end of 2021 and in the first chunk of 2022. And the long-delayed “Minions: The Rise of Gru” in Summer 2022 also performed quite well, largely thanks to teens and twentysomethings who were kids when the first “Despicable Me” came out.

Three years ago, a certain group of video game icons arrived on the big screen and took the world by storm. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” earned $1.36 Billion worldwide. Chris Pratt led the star-studded voice ensemble as Mario, following-up his work in WB’s “The LEGO Movie” franchise and Pixar’s “Onward”. (He’s also Garfield for Columbia Pictures features.) Original title “Migration”, about a family of ducks, opened about eight months after “Mario” and did solid business that holiday season. 2024’s “Despicable Me 4” nearly matched the impressive results of “Minions: The Rise of Gru”.

And now we’ve come to the “Mario” sequel. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” (opening next Wednesday April 1st) is expected to have a gigantic presence in movie theaters around the world all the way through Pixar’s launch of “Toy Story 5” in June… and Illumination’s latest “Minions” adventure, “Minions & Monsters”, in July. Universal and Illumination haven’t confirmed release dates or titles for features beyond these, though I predict they will be announcing more soon. 16 years after the first “Despicable Me”, Illumination is widely regarded as one of the powerhouses in animation, in large part thanks to “Mario” and those Minions… some of the most iconic animated characters of all time. (Source: Box Office Mojo)