By the Numbers is a statistical look at some of entertainment’s biggest figures, franchises, and more.
After a two-year delay due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Minions: The Rise of Gru will finally hit the theaters. The movie was initially scheduled to debut on July 3, 2020, but will start its theatrical run on July 1, 2022. As the title implies, the story will follow how Gru became the villain everyone loves to hate. Here are some facts regarding the franchise created by Illumination.
A Statistical Look at the Despicable Me Franchise
6: Movies in the Despicable Me franchise. The iconic first installment, Despicable Me, was an instant hit that laid the groundwork for its sequels and prequels, Despicable Me 2 (2013), Minions (2015), and Despicable Me 3 (2017), to turn Despicable Me into the highest-grossing animated film franchise. Minions: The Rise of Gru is already out, while Despicable Me 4 is set for a 2024 release.
1.159: US billion that the Minions movie grossed. The film debuted on June 30, 2017, and exceeded all expectations by overcoming its $74 million production budget. For the first time, the story focused on the lovable yellow creatures. It featured the voices of Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, and Geoffrey Rush, among others. In 2017, Despicable Me 3 fell short of topping Minions‘ success but still overcame the $1 billion landmark at the box-office.
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5: Times Steve Carell worked in the franchise. Academy Award-nominee Carell voiced Gru, the protagonist super-villain helped by his yellow-colored Minions in his rise to power. Only Pierre Coffin shares the same amount of work on the Despicable Me franchise as the French animator directed four movies and lent his voice to almost a thousand little creatures in all movies.
1: Television holiday special. Pretty much like every major franchise, Despicable Me made a television holiday special called Minions Holiday Special that aired on Nov. 27, 2020. The 30-minute special featured several characters crossing over from the other two franchises by Illumination, The Secret Life of Pets and Sing.
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July 9, 2010: The theatrical release of Despicable Me. The cast featured Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, and Julie Andrews. The movie took home a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards.
98: Minutes of Despicable Me 2, the longest movie in the franchise. Briefly, the story saw Gru, Lucy (Wiig), and the Minions dealing with a highly potent mutagen. The Academy nominated the film for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. Currently, Despicable Me 2 is the only movie in the franchise to catch the Academy’s attention.
10,400: Minions that Gru commands. Ahead of the official release of Despicable Me 2, the marketing campaign asked the fans to guess how many little yellow creatures were under the orders of Gru. Well, the answer exceeded 10,000, which is an unbelievable number of henchmen that can make Gru’s vision come (sort of) true.