Illumination Entertainment

Illumination Entertainment is an American animation film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. It has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Studios and it is based in Santa Monica, California. The company is best known for its first animated feature film Despicable Me (released in 2010), its sequel, Despicable Me 2 (2013) and its first $1 billion highest-grossing film and prequel/spin-off to the Despicable Me films, Minions (2015).