Last year, it was neither Disney nor Pixar but Illumination who took the cat into the water with the highest-grossing animated film of 2022: ‘Minions, the origin of Gru’. The studio will also bet heavily in 2023 with ‘Super Mario Bros. The Movie’ and, looking to the future, its CEO wants to bet on sequels like ‘Shrek 5’, a possible spin-off of Donkey or ‘¡Canta! 3’.
Ogres, pets and animals
Chris Meledandri is the founder and CEO of Illumination, the studio behind million-dollar franchises like ‘Gru, my favorite villain’, ‘Pets’ or ‘Sing!’. Besides, is a creative partner of DreamWorks and has confirmed that he is very enthusiastic about pull off ‘Shrek 5’recovering the original cast of voices:
We can anticipate that the cast of voices will return. We have now started the talks and everything indicates that the actors are excited to return.
According to Meledandri, nothing is closed but he is very optimistic about the possibilities of moving it forward, especially after the commercial success of the previous installment of the franchise, ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’, which was the third highest-grossing animated film of 2022.
In turn, the producer said that he was very moved by Eddie Murphy’s recent statements, claiming a spin-off focused on Donkey. When Meledandri was asked if he saw a possible film centered on the most talkative character in the saga, he replied: “Without a doubt”.
Regarding the projects within his company, he announced that They are working on ‘Pets 3’with several possible scripts to bring the franchise back from a different approach to the previous films.
He also commented that the production of ‘¡Canta! 3’and in which we will see a talent contest that will move to another stage: “It will include characters from the original but will take us to a new world.”
Although the latter is the most advanced project on Meledandri’s list, it remains to be seen when the rest will be carried out. For now, Illumination has just released ‘Super Mario Bros. The Movie’, on December 27 it will premiere ‘Migration’ and in 2024 ‘Gru, my favorite villain 4’ will arrive.
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