Despicable Me 4

Despicable Me is now one of the most successful franchises of all time. With its nearly $5.6 billion gross (you read that correctly, billion with a “B”), it has passed the Shrek franchise, which recently topped the $4 billion mark with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Despicable Me 4 definitely helped with this and the franchise has continued to crush through the years.

DESPICABLE ME 4 RELEASED ON JULY 3, 2024

Believe it or not, it was way back in 2017 that Illumination CEO, Christopher Meledandri, said that a Despicable Me 4 film was in development. We hadn’t heard much since that time, giving the feeling that maybe it wasn’t truly going to happen.

In fact, it wasn’t until February 2022, almost five years later, that Universal and Illumination finally announced that yes, Despicable 4 is on the way, and they gave it a release date of July 3, 2024.

And release it did.

DESPICABLE ME 4 FOCUSED ON GRU’S FAMILY

In Despicable Me 4, Gru and Lucy are adjusting to life with their new baby, Gru Jr., who is determined to give his father a hard time.

The family is thrown into chaos when Gru’s old nemesis, Maxime Le Mal, escapes from prison. Seeking revenge for a past humiliation at their high school, Maxime, along with his girlfriend Valentina, forces the family to go into hiding.

As they navigate their new life, Gru and Lucy must balance parenting with thwarting Maxime’s plans while also dealing with the antics of their beloved Minions

THE DESPICABLE ME VOICE CAST

Expand For Despicable Me 4 Returning Cast

Gru

Steve Carell

more

Lucy

Kristen Wiig

more

Margo

Miranda Cosgrove

more

Silas Ramsbottomoogan

Steve Coogan

Minions

Pierre Coffin

Despicable Me 4 brought back some old favorites to the franchise. These include Steve Carrell as Gru and joining him is Kristen Wiig as the voice of his wife, Lucy Wilde.

Also returning are Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Gru’s eldest daughter, and Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom.

Of course, Despicable Me and Gru wouldn’t be what they are without those crazy Minions. Back in action is Pierre Coffin, who will return as the voice of our favorite Minions, Kevin, Stuart, and Bob. Coffin has voiced the Minions since the start to include the Despicable Me spin-offs, Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Will Ferrell joined on as as Maxime Le Mal and Sofía Vergara played his girlfriend Valentina. Plus, there was Joey King as Poppy Prescott.

CHRIS RENAUD IS BACK AS DIRECTOR

Back in action and sitting in the director’s chair is Chris Renaud. He is quite familiar with the franchise as he directed both the original Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2. What may come as a surprise is that the script is being written by Mike White, the creator and writer of the popular, and very adult series, The White Lotus.

While it may seem like a surprise that White is handling the duties of a family fun film, he is no stranger to comedy and family fun as his writing credits include School of Rock (both film and series), Nacho Libre, The Emoji Movie, and The One and Only Ivan.

THE MINIONS WERE BACK

As mentioned, one can’t have the success of the Despicable Me franchise without the shenanigans of the Minions and they played a big part in Despicable Me 4. They were such a big hit in the original and second films that they got their first spin-off in 2015 (Minions), and another in 2022 (Minions: The Rise of Gru). You can definitely expect them to be up to no good in 2024.

THE FRANCHISE HAS BEEN A MAJOR HIT

Obviously, there were high hopes when Illumination and Universal took on Sergio Pablos’ creation. The result, well the first one, was the highly successful and fun Despicable Me that cast Steve Carell as the voice of the evil but loveable Gru.

He was mean, he was despicable, and he was bent on taking over the world. He was joined by Dr. Nefarious and the always-in-trouble minions. But then three things happened to Gru all at once: Margo, Edith, and Agnes.

In the original movie, Gru took on the role of adoptive father not because he cared for the sisters but because he wanted to use them for nefarious reasons.

Unfortunately for Gru and his plans to dominate the world as the number one supervillain, the girls began to grow on him. Enough to where he started to change into what he loathed. A good person. It worked.

The second movie in the franchise saw Gru give up his life of crime and become a member of the Anti-Villain League (AVL) where he could use his knowledge of how criminals think to better catch said criminals. In this story, he is helping track a criminal with the assistance of Lucy Wilde (voiced by Kristen Wiig). Of course, Lucy becomes Gru’s love interest and they all move on to the third movie in the franchise.

The third movie follows Gru, the kids, and Lucy as both Gru and Lucy lose their jobs at the AVL for their inability to capture Balthazar Bratt, voiced by Trey Parker (South Park). Gru also finds out that he has a twin brother, Dru, who also has a past as a criminal.

The two team up to take on Bratt with the brothers eventually winning that battle. But the job lures Dru back to a life of crime, where he steals Gru’s aircraft, slaps a “D” on it for good measure, and flies off into the unknown. Both Gru and Lucy, having been reinstated to the AVL, decide to give Dru a five-minute head start before they go on the chase.

Despicable Me 4 kept the party going in a big way.