Despicable Me 3

Despicable Me 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pierre Coffin Kyle Balda
Produced by	Chris Meledandri Janet Healy
Written by	Cinco Paul Ken Daurio
Based on	Characters by Sergio Pablos
Starring	Steve Carell Kristen Wiig Trey Parker Miranda Cosgrove Steve Coogan Jenny Slate Dana Gaier Julie Andrews
Music by	Heitor Pereira[1] Pharrell Williams
Edited by	Claire Dodgson
Production company	Universal Pictures[2] Illumination Entertainment[2]
Distributed by	Universal Pictures[2]
Release date	June 14, 2017 (2017-06-14) (Annecy)[3] June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30) (United States)[3]
Running time	90 minutes[4]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million[5]
Box office	$887.6 million[5]

Despicable Me 3^{[lower-alpha 1]} is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment for Universal Pictures. It is the third main installment in the Despicable Me film series, and the sequel to Despicable Me 2 (2013). The film is directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, co-directed by Eric Guillon,^[6] and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.

In the film, Gru teams up with his long lost twin brother Dru in order to defeat a new enemy named Balthazar Bratt, a 1980s child actor who grows up to become a villain. Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove and Dana Gaier reprise their roles of Gru, Margo and Edith from the first two films, and Julie Andrews who returns as Marlena, Gru's mother from Despicable Me (2010). Kristen Wiig and Steve Coogan return from Despicable Me 2 and Trey Parker, Jenny Slate and Nev Scharrel (replacing Elsie Fisher as Agnes) join the cast. Russell Brand is largly absent from this film after voicing Dr. Nefario in the first two installments.

Despicable Me 3 premiered on June 14, 2017 at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and was released in the United States on June 30, 2017 by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics^[7] and has grossed over $887 million worldwide, making it the third highest grossing film of 2017, 10th highest-grossing animated film of all-time and 46th overall.

Plot

Following the previous film, Gru is now an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) and he and his wife Lucy are sent to foil the plans of Balthazar Bratt. Gru manages to stop Bratt from stealing a very expensive diamond, but is unable to capture him. As a result of constantly failing to capture Bratt, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL by its mean new director Valerie Da Vinci, following the retirement of Silas Ramsbottom.

Gru and Lucy reluctantly tell their children, Margo, Edith, and Agnes of their termination, but assure them they will find new jobs someday. Most of Gru's Minions leave Gru when he refuses to return to villainy despite losing his job. Meanwhile, Lucy struggles to adapt in her new role as the children's new mom. The next morning, the family is approached by Fritz, the butler of Dru, who lives in a distant country named Freedonia and longs to meet him. Gru confronts his mother who reveals they agreed to keep one child each. The family decides to meet Dru and they are surprised at his immense wealth which Fritz attributes to their pig farm business. Meanwhile, the Minions are arrested for trespassing at a talent show set, while Bratt manages to steal the diamond once again, intending to use it to power a giant robot he constructed so he can destroy Hollywood as revenge for the cancellation of his show.

While Lucy takes the children around Freedonia, Dru reveals to Gru their father was a legendary supervillain. As Dru was constantly dismissed by their father as a disgrace, he turned to his brother to teach him how to be a villain. When Gru refuses to revert to his old ways, Dru brings him on a joyride around Freedonia in their father's highly technological car where the siblings bond. Meanwhile, Lucy tries to balance her tasks as a mom which she exhibits after turning away a young boy named Niko who had fallen for Margo in the midst of a traditional cheese festival, while Edith and Agnes stumble into a local tavern and learn from the bartender a mythical unicorn lurks in the nearby forest. Fatherly, Gru attempts to convince Agnes that unicorns are imaginary, but decides not to on account of her anticipation. The next day, Agnes and Edith set out into the woods to track the mythical horse, only to find a one-horned goat whom Agnes dubs "Lucky" and takes to her heart. Meanwhile, the Minions exert control among the prisoners at their jail, but their longing for Gru motivates them to escape the prison.

Dru convinces Gru to steal the diamond, with Gru secretly intending to bring it to the AVL in order for Da Vinci to reinstate his job. Despite several setbacks, they manage to retrieve the diamond, and are rescued by Lucy who had followed them earlier after a narrow escape. After finding out Gru's true motives, Dru confronts his brother on why he lied to him, and the latter insults him and decides to leave Dru's mansion. Bratt infiltrates Dru's mansion by disguising as Lucy, kidnaps the children, and once again acquires the diamond which leads the three to resolve their differences and pursue him.

With his robot powered, Bratt terrorizes Hollywood just as planned. Lucy saves the children while Gru and Dru weaken Bratt's robot with the weapons of their father's car. Gru is knocked unconscious when the car is destroyed and Dru destroys the robot's core from the inside when Bratt threatens to kill Gru. When Gru recovers, he battles Bratt in a dance fight and uses it as a distraction to grab his keytar, which ends in Gru trapping Bratt in his own gum and blasting him away, later to be arrested. Having rendezvoused with Gru, the Minions manage to destroy the gum already covering the city, and Gru and Dru reunite.

Soon afterward, Gru and Lucy are reinstated in the AVL and the newly united family celebrate in Gru's home. Lucy is acknowledged by the children as their mother; Dru steals Gru's ship, accompanied by the Minions. Gru and Lucy decide to give them a five-minute head-start before engaging pursuit.

Cast

• Steve Carell as Felonious Gru, the former villain turned Anti-Villain League agent, Margo, Edith, and Agnes' adoptive father, and Lucy's husband.^[8]

Carell also voices Dru, Gru's long-lost twin brother and the girls' adoptive uncle.^[8][9]

• Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde, an Anti-Villain League agent, Gru's wife and the girls' adoptive mother.^[10]
• Trey Parker as Balthazar Bratt, a supervillain and former child star who grows up to become obsessed with the character he played in the '80s and is bent on world domination.^[8]
• Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Gru and Lucy's oldest adoptive daughter.^[10]
• Dana Gaier as Edith, Gru and Lucy's middle adoptive daughter.^[11]
• Nev Scharrel as Agnes, Gru and Lucy's youngest adoptive daughter.^[12] She was previously voiced by Elsie Fisher in the first two films.
• Steve Coogan as Ramsbottom, the director of the Anti-Villain League.^[13][14]

Coogan also voices Fritz, the butler of Dru.

• Andy Nyman as Clive, a robot who is Bratt's sidekick.
• Adrian Ciscato as Niko, a boy from Freedonia who falls in love with Margo.
• Julie Andrews as Marlena Gru, Gru and Dru's mother.^[13][15]
• Jenny Slate as Valerie Da Vinci, a member of the Anti-Villain League who becomes the brand new AVL director.^[13][16]
• Pierre Coffin as Mel and the Minions.^[17]

Coffin also voices a museum director.

• John Cygan as an Additional Voice. Cygan died before the movie was released.

Production

Steve Burke, the NBCUniversal CEO, confirmed in September 2013 that a third film in the Despicable Me series was in development.^[18] Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the writers of the first two films, announced that they would return to write the screenplay for the film.^[19] On April 13, 2016, Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, was cast as the main antagonist for the film, Balthazar Bratt.^[8]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Despicable Me 3 was released on June 23, 2017. Pharrell Williams released the new song "Yellow Light" for the soundtrack, which was made available through digital download and streaming.^[20]

Track listing

Charts

Release

The film premiered on June 14, 2017, at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.^[3] It was released in the United States on June 30, 2017.^[24]

The first official trailer for the film was released on December 14, 2016;^[11] with the second released on March 14, 2017.^[25] A secondary trailer, designed for TV usage was released on April 21, 2017.^[26] A third trailer was released on May 24, 2017.^[27]

Box office

As of August 10, 2017, Despicable Me 3 has grossed $244.6 million in the United States and Canada and $643 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $887.6 million, against a production budget of $80 million.^[5]

In North America, the film opened alongside The House and Baby Driver, as well as the wide expansion of The Beguiled, and was projected to gross $85–95 million in its opening weekend. It played in 4,529 theaters, setting the record for widest release of all-time, beating the amount set by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in 2010.^[28] It made $4.1 million from Thursday night previews, down slightly from the $4.7 million of the second film and $6.2 million made by Minions, and $29.2 million on its first day. It went on to debut to $72.4 million, slightly below expectations and the lowest of the series since the first film, but still topped the box office and was the 4th best opening for Illumination.^[29] It also opened to more than the next five films did combined (Baby Driver's $20.6 million, Transformers: The Last Knight's $16.9 million, Wonder Woman's $15.7 million, Cars 3's $9.7 million and The House's $8.7 million).^[7] In its second weekend the film grossed $33.6 million (a drop of 53.6%, more than the previous Despicable Me films but similar to Minions), finishing second at the box office behind newcomer Spider-Man: Homecoming ($117 million).^[30]

Internationally the film was released in five markets on June 16, 2017 and grossed $9.9 million in its opening weekend.^[31] In its third week of release the film opened in 46 more markets, grossing $95.6 million.^[7]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 61% based on 154 reviews, and an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despicable Me 3 should keep fans of the franchise consistently entertained with another round of colorful animation and zany—albeit somewhat scattershot—humor."^[32] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[29]

IGN gave the film score of 6/10, saying, "It’s not much, but Despicable Me 3 is at least enough for the younger fans of the franchise."^[34] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Despicable Me 3 is unwieldy, but it mostly works, as co-directors Pierre Coffin (who also voices the Minions) and Kyle Balda never lose sight of the film's emotional center, packing the rest with as much humor as they can manage. The jokes comes so fast and furious, the movie can hardly find room for Heitor Pereira's funky score, and though Pharrell Williams has contributed five new songs to sell soundtracks (including the sweet There's Something Special), the movie hardly needs them."^[35] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a mixed review, saying: "Ultimately, none of these flaws will matter to the throngs of little kids who have made the previous Despicable Me movies (and the superior Minions spin-off) into giant global hits."^[36]

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Despicable Me 3.

• Official website
• Despicable Me 3 on IMDb
• Despicable Me 3 at Rotten Tomatoes