Despicable Me

Story

When an unknown rival steals the Great Pyramid of Giza, criminal mastermind Gru resolves to out-evil his opponent. His plan: to steal the moon. To help him on his heist, Gru adopts three orphans, Margo, Edith and Agnes. But soon Gru starts to grow attached to the girls – will his softening feelings scupper his sinister scheme?

Why we chose it

An animated film where the villain is the hero, the evil genius has a heart and everyone fell in love with the Minions.

Where it came from

What happens if the hero of a film is a villain? This question gave Sergio Pablos the idea for the story of the film, originally called Evil Me. The story caught the eye of producer Chris Meledandri, who was looking for a film to launch his new company, Illumination Entertainment. To make Gru more appealing, the team created the minions, inspired by Willy Wonka’s Oompa Loompas and the Jawas in Star Wars.

Where it went next

Despicable Me became the highest grossing animated film franchise ever, and at the time the film was Universal’s sixth-highest grossing film. It won the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for Favourite Animated Movie and was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

Associated stories

Despicable Me 2 came out in 2013, followed by Despicable Me 3 in 2017. There have also been several spin-offs and two prequels: Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2020). Director Chris Renaud also directed The Lorax (2012) and The Secret Life of Pets (2016), and Sergio Pablos directed the film Klaus (2019).