Despicable Me 4 is currently playing in theaters, but Illumination’s already looking ahead to the future. The franchise’s scene-stealing Minions will come back to theaters in another solo movie officially dated for June 30, 2027. Crazy to think it’s one of the first movies dated that far ahead, huh.
Per Deadline, the threequel will have some notable alums behind it. Brian Lynch, writer of the original Minions movie, is returning to pen the script, while Pierre Coffin (director of that movie and the first three Despicable films) is coming back to helm this one. Next to Steve Carrell’s Gru, Coffin’s the big franchise, since he also voices the apparently endless horde of Minions. Illumination founder Chris Meledandri will produce the film alongside Super Mario Bros. EP Bill Ryan.
The news comes as Despicable Me 4 is doing pretty good at the box office: it’s currently made around $270 million worldwide, and the larger series has made $4.64 billion worldwide. In total, the Despicable Me franchise is the highest-grossing animated film franchise ever, in addition to being 15th in film franchises overall. It helps that the series has never really gone away, and that Illumination doesn’t let you forget the Minions exist, even when it’s making completely different movies like Mario or Secret Life of Pets. (Mario’s sequel is due in April 2026, while new movies for Pets and the Sing series are also said to be in production.)
Movies that hit on or around the July 4 holiday can often do well, and Mario also benefitted from a midweek release. Illumination knows what it’s doing by slotting Minions 3 on June 30, so best of luck to anything coming out in the same time frame. If there’s one thing the Minions are good at, it’s overwhelming audiences.
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