Illumination (company)

Illumination
FormerlyIllumination Entertainment (2007–2017)
Company typeDivision
Industry
FoundedJanuary 17, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-01-17)
FounderChris Meledandri
Headquarters2230 Broadway,
Santa Monica, California
,
U.S.
Key people
Number of employees
100 (2016)[3]
ParentUniversal Pictures
Divisions
  • Illumination Labs[4]
  • Moonlight
SubsidiariesIllumination Studios Paris
WebsiteOfficial website

Illumination, formerly known as Illumination Entertainment, is an American animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 and is a division of Universal Pictures,[5][6][7] a division of Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal; Meledandri produces the films, while Universal finances and distributes them.[6] 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.[8] 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. The studio's highest-grossing films are The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023; $1.362 billion), Minions (2015; $1.159 billion), and Despicable Me 3 (2017; $1.034 billion), all of which are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and eight of their films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films.

  1. ^ Gaita, Paul (December 5, 2017). "Illumination's Chris Meledandri Melds Together Cinematic Art and Cutting-Edge Technology". Variety. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  2. ^ Lang, Brent (March 5, 2020). "Illumination Taps Keith Feldman as COO (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  3. ^ Richford, Rhonda (December 9, 2016). "An Inside Look at Illumination's 24/7 Operation, From L.A. to Paris". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  4. ^ "Illumination Partners With Streetwear Brand Brain Dead For Experimental Short Films". Cartoon Brew. April 5, 2021.
  5. ^ Debruge, Peter (July 17, 2013). "Illumination Chief Chris Meledandri Lines Up Originals for Universal". Variety. Archived from the original on March 5, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference THRSecretsRumors was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference FastCompanyInnovative2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Brian (April 6, 2023). "Nintendo and Illumination up for more movie collaborations". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved April 6, 2023.