'''Illumination''' (also known as '''Illumination Entertainment''') is an American film and animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 and co-owned by [[Universal Pictures]], a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal.
The company was formed after Meledandri left as president of [[20th Century Fox Animation]] and [[Blue Sky Studios]] in early 2007. While at those companies, he supervised or executive-produced movies (including the first two ''Ice Age'' films, ''Robots'', and ''Horton Hears a Who!''. After he left, a deal was announced positioning Illumination as Universal's family entertainment arm that would produce one to two films a year starting in 2010. During the summer the following year, Illumination acquired the animation department of the French animation and visual effects studio Mac Guff, and formed Illumination Mac Guff (now Illumination Studios Paris).
The studio is responsible for the ''Despicable Me'', ''The Secret Life of Pets'' and ''Sing'' franchises, and the movies ''Hop'', ''The Lorax'', ''The Grinch'', and the upcoming ''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' (in association with [[Nintendo|Nintendo Pictures]]). The Minions from the first title are the studio's mascots.
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Illumination (Despicable Me).jpeg|''Despicable Me''
Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Gru Control).png|''Despicable Me'' (Gru Control Blu-Ray option)
Illumination (Hop).jpeg|''Hop''
Illumination (The Lorax).jpeg|''The Lorax''
Illumination (Minions The Rise of Gru).jpeg|''Minions: The Rise of Gru''
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Trailers/Specials/Other=
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Minions & More 1=
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Illumination (M&M Forces of Nature).jpeg|''Forces of Nature''
Illumination (M&M Santa's Little Helpers).jpeg|''Santa's Little Helpers''
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{{YouTube|id=IA7jN2s9gBo}}
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Minions & More 2=
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Illumination (M&M Mower Minions).jpeg|''Mower Minions''
Illumination (M&M Super Gidget).jpeg|''Super Gidget''
Illumination (M&M Gunter Babysits).jpeg|''Gunter Babysits''
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{{YouTube|id=IA7jN2s9gBo|id2=eHvBKIsyzVI}}
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'''Nickname:''' "Minions"
'''Logo:''' On a dark background with a reflective floor, a large stacked text reading "{{color|silver|'''ILLUMINATION''' ENTERTAINMENT}}"(or in later years, "{{color|silver|'''ILLUMINATION'''}}") appears(written in Futura Condensed). Minions appear below the text(usually Bob or Stuart) and get up to a comedic skit, which varies: ▼
▲'''Logo:''' On a dark background with a reflective floor, a large stacked text reading "{{color|silver|'''ILLUMINATION''' ENTERTAINMENT}}" (or in later years, "{{color|silver|'''ILLUMINATION'''}}") appears (written in Futura Condensed). Minions appear below the text (usually Bob or Stuart) and get up to a comedicdifferent skitthings, which variesvary:
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Main variants=
* ''Despicable Me'' and ''Despicable Me 2'' ([[ABC National IDs|ABC]] airing): Stuart the minion peeks out from the right side of the screen, anxiously greeting the audience. Then, all of a sudden, the text appears behind him, flashing brightly. Stuart is clearly frightened by the loud music that plays as it appears, and as the music ends, he stands stunned, and then falls over. He then crawls off the screen.
**On the former film's Blu-Ray, if you select the "Gru Control" option, the preceding Universal logo and the ''Despicable Me'' variant are seen on a screen that Gru turns on, with a bunch of Minions underneath cheering. Throughout the logo, the scene cuts to the antagonist Vector on a couch switching the logo to "Vector Channel" which annoys Gru and the group of Minions. As the logo is shown, at the point where the text shines and startles the Minion, Gru and Vector repeatedly switch in between the Illumination logo and the Vector Channel, and Vector's head is then frozen by the Freeze Ray from the film off-screen. The Minions cheer one last time as the camera pans into the screen, and the titles appear.
**On the first two trailers for ''Hop'', there's a short version of the ''Despicable Me'' variant in which it just shows Stuart peeking in, but the text is already there.
* ''The Lorax'': The text looks different. We see Stuart attempting to cut down a truffula tree with a chainsaw, while Tom observes. Lou the Barbaloot from the movie then falls out of the tree, due to it's shaking from the chainsaw, and crushes Stuart. Tom slowly backs away nervously from Lou, who is eating some truffula fruits.
* ''Despicable Me 2'' (most prints): Again, a different design for the text. Minions Stuart and Tom stand at the bottom right corner of the logo. Stuart sings "TA-DAAA!", then Tom shoves him aside and also sings "TA-DAAA!". Stuart then shoves Tom and sings "TA-DAAA!" once again, and then the two minions then start yelling "TA-DAAA!" at each other and start pushing and shoving until Stuart shoves Tom off-screen, and triumphantly yells "TA-DAAA!". Tom then chimes "TA-DAA!" off-screen, causing Stuart to mumble in frustration while glancing out at the audience.
* ''Minions'': The preceding [[Universal Pictures]] logo has a five-Minion chorus singing along with the logo theme, and one minion voice continues to sing the closing note as the logo fades in, revealing the five-minion choir, and Stuart, the minion in the centre, is still singing the note as the others watch(except for one who stares at the camera depressingly). Stuart finally runs out of breath and falls flat on his face, then weakly holds out a hand for the others to lift him up, but quickly puts it back down as the other minions exchange glances.
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Minions & More 1=
* ''Puppy'': Tom is seen flying towards the left on a dark background, using cardboard box flaps as wings. He then stops in front of a large bright white light on the left. Tom becomes fascinated by the light, then decides to go towards it, and the light electrocutes him. He then falls to the ground and the camera quickly zooms out, revealing the large light to be the text and revealing dozens of other Minions who have done the same thing as Tom, who painfully groans the company name.
* ''The Dog Days of Winter'': TheKevin, minionStuart trioand Bob can be seen in front of a small gingerbread house with the text being seen on top of it while they stand in front of a blizzard wearing {{color|red}} and white scarves and shivering. The camera slightly shakes as the area around them rumbles, slightly startling Bob. It happens again, only stronger, which causes Bob to almost be swept away by the snow as Kevin pulls him back. They stand there for a bit as the area shakes once more, this time causing all of them to float and spin around the house. The camera then zooms back to reveal that the area and the Minions are actually part of a snowglobe being shaken by the young Grinch from his self-titled movie.
* ''Minion Scouts'': On a dark, starry night background, the top of the text can be seen at the bottom of the screen, with an {{color|orange}} glow. A wooden platform held by two strings lowers, holding theKevin, minionBob trioand Stuart, who are ready to roast some marshmallows on the glowing text. Kevin and Stuart pull out theirtwo sticks with four marshmallows on each onethem, andbut startBob roasting.pulls Bob takesout a moment to pull out hisgiant stick, and when he does, it haswith a huge jumble of marshmallows curled up in a ball to Kevin and Stuart's surprise. The camera zooms out and reveals the rest of the text, which has a glowing top and a more metallic center and bottom as Bob says the company name in a somewhat excited manner.
* ''Norman Television'': This is the first ever variant without any Minions. On the normal background (albeit with the letters on the ground instead of floating in the air like the normal logo), Chloe the Cat from ''The Secret Life of Pets'' comes in from the right and sees a {{color|green}} feather next to one of the letters as its edge causes the feather to be stuck. She then tries to take it off nicely, before cutting to a montage of her trying to take it off in several aggressive manners before she pushes the letter forward until it eventually topples, freeing the feather as she looks at it in surprise. The camera then zooms out and reveals another letter on the right with a {{color|purple}} feather stuck on it, which Chloe then spots and decides to leave the green one to try and take off. The camera zooms out again, revealing the letters to be the "I" and "N", with the "I", being made of glass-like material, being broken due to the fall.
*''Santa's Little Helpers'': We see the young Grinch, who is sad sitting on a snowy hill at night. We cut back to see the Minion trio, as it then cuts to them rolling up a large ball with colorful lightbulbs as they figure them out. Kevin then convinces Stuart who is on a snowy tree, to hold them. They all get on the trees as it fades to several shots of them getting the bulbs up. Then we cut back to the Grinch, as the minions go back to him while Kevin holds a button. The Grinch then presses it, as we see the text in a script made from the bulbs while they watch.
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*''Mower Minions'': On a dark background, the minion trio are seen carrying some beach towels, ready to do some sunbathing. They lay down their towels, put on their sun shorts, sit on their beach towels, put on sunglasses and apply some sunblock. Bob pushes a button, which turns on a huge UV light behind the camera. The minion trio then start sunbathing. The camera cuts to the UV light which is shaped like the text. ▼
Minions & More 2=
▲*''Mower Minions'': On a dark background, theKevin, minionStuart trioand Bob are seen carrying some beach towels, ready to do some sunbathing. They lay down their towels, put on their sun shorts, sit on their beach towels, put on sunglasses and apply some sunblock. Bob pushes a button, which turns on a huge UV light behind the camera. The minion trio then start sunbathing. The camera cuts to the UV light which is shaped like the text.
*''Super Gidget'': The minion trio are seen sitting in a movie theater, laughing at a funny scene. The camera pans to the left, showing other Illumination characters. The Grinch stares at a weird scene, Snowball hides in his popcorn bucket at the sight of a scary scene and Miss Crawly tears up over a sad scene. The camera then stops panning, showing Ash and Chloe, who is watching the movie with her tongue stuck out. Ash urges Chloe to put her tongue back in, and she does. The camera then cuts to the screen, which shows the text.
*''Yellow is the New Black'': The text is seen on the floor in a dark background. TheKevin, Stuart minionand trioBob enter from the right, seeming to be shopping. Kevin takes the first four letters in armfuls, while Stuart takes the "A" and Bob takes the third "I" and they scuttle off-screen. After a brief moment, Kevin is heard yelling at Bob, who walks back in, places his "I" between "MIN" and the "T" then hurries off with the "T", the letter he was supposed to take.
*''Eddie's Life Coach'': We see a close up of Ash jamming out on her guitar before zooming out to reveal the rest of her. As she jams out, several {{color|purple}} amp meters suround her, all shaped like the letters in the text. We then zoom out to reveal the rest of them. The camera then zooms in on Ash's guitar for the last few notes before the screen cuts to black.
*''Competition'': In a {{color|blue}} metal room, a group of minions in hard hats are seen carrying a giant {{color|red}} plug, which they then place it in a giant socket. Some other minions flip a giant switch. The plug's wire leads out of the building the minions are in, through numerous transmission lines and high into the sky. The wire goes into space, and powers the text, floating over the planet, as numerous minions float around it, cheering. Jerry, the minion at the bottom left corner of the screen, suddenly notices their work is wiping out all the world's energy, and tries to warn the others. The whole planet blacks out, and the text switches off. Jerry sighs in dissapointment.
*''Serenade'': On a hilltop at night, theKevin, minionBob trioand Stuart carry some fireworks for a display, with Kevin carrying a few fireworks, Bob carrying a big firework and Stuart carrying a heap of fireworks. We then cut to the night sky, and see the minions' fireworks creating pictures of Bob, the Grinch, the Lorax and Snowball, with Bob calling out each character's name off-screen. The final picture is of the text, with the minions cheering and Stuart shouting out the company name.
*''Cro Minion'': The text appears at the top of the screen, with the "N" in the middle missing. TheKevin, minionBob trioand Stuart appear at the bottom of the screen, with a {{color|pink}}, "N"-shaped helium balloon to fill it in. Kevin raises the balloon, and it floats up to the text, carrying Bob with it. However, it goes over the text and off-screen. Luckily, Stuart has a bow and some arrows to pop the balloon, just in case. Kevin urges Stuart to do so, and he tries, but ends up striking Bob's bottom. He finds this entertaining, and does it several times before Kevin once again urges him to pop the balloon, and he does. Bob falls back down with an arrow-covered bottom, and painfully groans the company name, pronouncing it "Illumi-ation", just like the text says.
*''Wagon Ho'': The Lorax is seen between two truffula trees with a watering can, watering the one on the left. As he moves on to the other one, he encounters Bob, who asks him to water his bald head, and he does, causing Bob to grow a big head of truffula "hair". Bob admires his new look, thanks the Lorax, and runs off-screen. The Lorax looks on at Bob, before resuming his tree-watering duties. The camera cuts to a far shot, revealing him to be amongst a row of trees shaped like the text.
*''Binky Nelson Unpacified'': The Grinch is seen leading theKevin, minionStuart trioand Bob through a snow-covered forest, when they enter deep snow. The Grinch shovels through the snow, and the minions follow. They then go in a loop, while Bob desperately tries to keep up. They are then seen going seperate paths, and Bob pops out from behind, trying to find them. As Bob scatters through the trails, he belives he has gotten lost and sobs. Luckily, Kevin finds him and leads him onto shallow snow. The Grinch and the minions resume their hike, and the camera cuts to their trail, which spells out the text.
*''Panic in the Mailroom'': The text is off. Kevin and Stuart stand at the bottom of the screen. Stuart turns a knob, and the text begins to turn on. Kevin urges Stuart to make the text brighter and brighter, until it creates a blast of light, inverting the text and background colors. Kevin and Stuart are completely black, except their eyes, teeth and tongues. Kevin is blinded and looks around for Stuart, who is right behind him.
* Starting with ''Sing'', the name is three-dimensional.
* Starting with the second trailer of ''Despicable Me 3'' and the film itself, "ENTERTAINMENT" is removed.
* From ''The Grinch'' to ''Sing 2''Sometimes, the logo cuts in and out instead of fading in and out.
'''FX/SFX:''' The minions and the text effects, which varies by film or short, are animated by Illumination themselves through their animation studio in Paris, Illumination Mac Guff (now known as Illumination Studios Paris).
*Sometimes, the opening theme plays over the logo, while the minions talk and the sound effects play.
*On the ''Norman Television'' variant (for ''Minions & More 1''), a rock tune is heard.
*On the ''Forces of Nature'', and ''Santa's Little Helpers'' variants (also for ''Minions & More 1''), a calming guitar tune is heard. The same tune is heard on the ''Wagon Ho'' and ''Binky Nelson Unpacified'' variants(also for ''Minions and More 2''), a calming guitar tune is heard.
'''Availability:''' Current and common. Seen on all of the company's films.
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