Chris Meledandri Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Zack Sharf Mike Myers wants more Shrek in his life. During a career-spanning video interview with GQ magazine, the iconic comedian said he’d be “thrilled” if he  was able to do one “Shrek” movie a year. Variety reported in 2018 that Universal was tasking Illumination founder Chris Meledandri with overseeing a “Shrek” revival, but a new installment has yet to be officially announced.“The Euro-centric form that is the fairytale is really about classicism,” Myers said.

In the wake of Illumination’s Nintendo movie Mario moving off of Wednesday, Dec. 21, Dreamworks Animation’s sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will now take over that slot, moving back from its Sept. 23 release date.

J. Kim Murphy Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming adaptation of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. video game series has been delayed to 2023.The Super Mario Bros.

Universal and Illumination’s Nintendo movie Super Mario Bros about the famed videogame plumbers, kart drivers and squashers of turtles is zipping from its Dec. 21 release date this year to April 7, 2023, which is Easter weekend.

Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru has been set to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in a world premiere on June 13. The fest is returning to a fully in-person event after last year’s hybrid edition. Annecy and the Minions franchise have a long history, going back to 2010’s Despicable Me.

Angelique Jackson The Minions are back — and celebrating with a splashy world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.The long-awaited “Minions” sequel, dubbed “The Rise of Gru” will open the festival with a screening on Monday, June 13 in the Grande Salle de Bonlieu.The next chapter in the “Despicable Me” film franchise tells the backstory of how Gru — the world’s greatest supervillain — met his Minions, forming “cinema’s most despicable crew” and facing off against the criminal supergroup, the Vicious 6.“The Minions franchise is inextricably linked to Annecy,” stated Marcel Jean, the festival’s artistic director. “As early as 2010, ‘Despicable Me’ made its mark at the event, and since then each film in the series has started its success here.

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment will release “Despicable Me 4” over Independence Day weekend in 2024, the studios announced Friday. The fourth film in the “Despicable Me” animated franchise will open in theaters on July 3, 2024. Illumination has also announced the date for another original animated film from writer Mike White called “Migration,” which will open in theaters a year earlier on June 30, 2023.

Jordan Moreau You haven’t seen the last of Gru and the Minions quite yet.Universal Pictures and Illumination announced Friday that “Despicable Me 4” is coming to theaters on July 3, 2024. Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Miranda Cosgrove and Steve Coogan will all be returning for the next chapter in the animated, family-friendly series about the reformed super-villain and his army of yellow Minions.Chris Renaud, who directed the first two “Despicable Me” movies, is back for the fourth installment.

Illumination and Universal have set release dates for their forthcoming animated films Migration and Despicable Me 4. The former original will be released wide on June 30, 2023, opening against the untitled fifth film in the Indiana Jones franchise from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The latest installment in the top-grossing Despicable Me franchise is set for a wide release on the wide-open weekend of July 23, 2044. Both films are taking up slots inhabited by previously announced, untitled Illumination Animated Films.

Super Mario animated film has defended the casting of Chris Pratt, describing his Mario voice as “phenomenal”.Following the film’s cast announcement in September, Pratt’s inclusion has faced scepticism over whether he’ll live up to Mario’s original voice actor, Charles Martinet.Speaking to TooFab, co-producer Chris Meledandri said Pratt’s voice will win over critics and fans. “All I can tell you is the voice that he’s doing for us, and Mario, is phenomenal,” Meladandri said.

When the voice cast was announced for the upcoming “Super Mario Bros.” animated movie, fans were seemingly divided by the casting of Chris Pratt as the title character. Many fans were upset because Chris Pratt doesn’t seem like the right fit for an Italian plumber type.

Chris Pratt will be voicing the role of Mario in the upcoming animated Super Mario Bros. film and his casting has been controversial.

Chris Meledandri, Founder and CEO of Illumination, has been nominated to join Nintendo as an Outside Director.

Editors note: Before he founded and became CEO of the Universal-based family film factory Illumination, Chris Meledandri was tasked with building an animation division at Fox. Early on, the president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation in 1998 acquired Blue Sky Studios for the studio.

Steve Carell has revisited his Despicable Me villain for a special coronavirus public service announcement aimed at children.

The Minions sequel Minions: The Rise Of Gru has officially been postponed by Universal. The reason is the impact of the spreading coronavirus which is affecting all of us around the world. The film’s release was set for the summer but the film will be delayed for two reasons – one being that most cinemas in the key territories are currently closed, and that Illumination Entertainment, who are behind the Minions and Despicable Me movies, have had to close their studios in France.

The summer launch of the new Minions sequel has been ditched as the global coronavirus pandemic forces producers to close its animation studios in France.

Keith Feldman has been named chief operating officer of Illumination, the animation powerhouse behind such hits as “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.” He joins Illumination after serving as president and general manager of worldwide home entertainment at 20th Century Fox.

By Anthony D'Alessandro