But one day, Katie brings home to her Manhattan apartment Duke (Eric Stonestreet), a huge, furry dog whom Max immediately perceives as a threat and tries to push out of the picture. Our attentions are directed foremost at Max (voiced by Louis C.K.), a playful canine who is basically the soulmate of his owner Katie (Ellie Kemper). In their universe, pets get into all kinds of Pixar-inspired adventures.

Pets hooked moviegoers with a straightforward premise: what do animals get to up in the day when their owners are out at work or school? For those of you who don't work from home, the writers of the Despicable Me series (plus Brian Lynch of Hop and Puss in Boots) had a creative version of the less exciting reality. It was the second big original animated hit of the year, following Disney's Zootopia, proving that as financially safe and certain as sequels might be, audiences could still flock to a compelling universe they had never before visited. It grossed $368 M domestic (fourth best for the year) and $875 M worldwide (sixth for the year) on a budget of just $75 M. The Secret Life of Pets, released worldwide in the summer, was especially potent. And both added to Illumination's streak of commercial success. Though the studio has relied heavily on sequels and spin-offs, both were completely original works. Last year marked the first time that two Illumination movies were released in the same calendar year. Two years later, the spin-off Minions did reach ten figures globally. Despicable 2 grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide. Launched in 2010 with the release of Despicable Me, the Universal Pictures-based production company has consistently churned out blockbuster family attractions and at budgets far less than those of competitors like Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks.ĭespicable Me 2, Illumination's most expensive production to date, cost just $76 million to make, which is significantly less than Pixar spent on A Bug's Life in the '90s even ignoring inflation. There's big money in computer animation and no one knows that better than Illumination Entertainment.

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