Box Office: 'Despicable Me 3' Crosses the $1B Mark

Collectively, the four movies in the 'Despicable Me' series have made it the biggest animated franchise of all time.

With a boost from its jabbering minions, Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 3 crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office this week as it took in $741.4 million internationally and $259.05 million in North America.

Collectively, the four movies in the Despicable Me franchise, which includes 2015’s Minions, have grossed $3.67 billion, surpassing the $2.96 billion grossed by the four Shrek movies to become the highest-grossing animated film franchise of all time.

As for other stats, Despicable Me 3 is the second Universal release to cross the $1 billion mark this year, following The Fate of the Furious ($1.2 billion). At the global box office, the movie is the biggest animated film of 2017, as well as the third-highest-grossing film of the year to date. Additionally, it is now the sixth-highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide.

Despicable Me 3 also brings the total haul of Illumination’s eight films released since the company’s creation in 2007 to $5.7 billion worldwide.

“The enduring success of Despicable Me and Minions is a testament to the extraordinary talent of the team at Illumination and Illumination Mac Guff combined with the world’s greatest studio, Universal,” Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri said of the movie’s latest box-office benchmark. “Our passion for creating memorable experiences is on display in Despicable Me 3, and we thank fans for taking this chapter to a billion-dollar milestone.”

Illumination’s upcoming films include How the Grinch Stole Christmas in November 2018, The Secret Life of Pets 2 in June 2019, Minions 2 in July 2020 and Sing 2 in December 2020.