Despicable Me 3

Despicable Me 3 (also stylized as Despicable M3) is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated action-comedy film produced by Illumination for Universal Pictures. It is the third main installment in the Despicable Me franchise, following 2013's Despicable Me 2, and was directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda 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 former 1980s child actor-turned supervillain.

Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove and Dana Gaier reprised their respective roles of Gru, Margo and Edith, and Julie Andrews returns as Marlena, Gru's mother from the first film. Kristen Wiig and Steve Coogan return from Despicable Me 2, while Trey Parker (co-creator of Comedy Central's South Park), Jenny Slate and Nev Scharrel (replacing Elsie Fisher as Agnes) join the cast.

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 in 3D, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX 3D. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2017, the fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the 25th highest-grossing film of all time; it was Illumination's second film to gross over $1 billion after 2015's Minions, becoming the first ever animated franchise to do so.

Plot
Former villain Gru is now an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL). He and his partner/wife Lucy are sent to foil the plans of Balthazar Bratt, a 1980s child star turned evil. Gru manages to stop Bratt from stealing the world's largest diamond, but is unable to capture him. As a result of failing to capture Bratt, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL by its unreasonable new director Valerie Da Vinci, following the retirement of Silas Ramsbottom.

Gru and Lucy reluctantly tell their children, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, of their dismissal, but assure them they will find new jobs. Most of Gru's Minions leave Gru when he refuses to return to villainy, despite losing his job. Meanwhile, Lucy struggles to adapt to her new role as the children's new mom. The next morning, the family is approached by Fritz, the butler of Gru's cheerful twin brother Dru, who lives in a distant country named Freedonia, who longs to meet him. Shocked to learn he has a twin, Gru confronts his mother, who reveals that when she and her husband divorced, they agreed to keep one child each. The family decides to travel 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. Bratt manages to steal the diamond again, intending to use it to power a giant robot and destroy Hollywood as revenge for the cancellation of his show.

Dru reveals to Gru that their recently deceased father was a legendary supervillain, whose villainous activities are the real source of the family's wealth. As Dru was dismissed by their father as a disgrace, he asks his brother to teach him how to be a villain. When Gru refuses to revert to his old ways, Dru takes him on a joyride around Freedonia in their father's technologically advanced car and 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 about a mythical unicorn which lurks in a nearby forest. Gru tries to convince Agnes that unicorns are imaginary, but decides against it to avoid hurting her feelings. The next day, Agnes and Edith set out into the woods to track the mythical unicorn, only to find a one-horned goat whom Agnes adopts and dubs "Lucky". Meanwhile, the Minions' longing for Gru motivates them to escape from prison and return to their former master.

Dru convinces Gru to steal the diamond, with Gru secretly intending to bring it to the AVL, which he hopes will convince Da Vinci to rehire him and Lucy. Despite several setbacks, they manage to retrieve the diamond and are rescued by Lucy after narrowly escaping. After finding out Gru's true motives, Dru confronts his brother about his lie. In return, Gru insults him and decides to leave Freedonia, ending their relationship. Bratt, disguised as Lucy, kidnaps the children, and once again acquires the diamond. Gru and Dru resolve their differences and pursue him after finding the real Lucy.

With his robot powered by the diamond, Bratt terrorizes Hollywood, intending to send it into space with the use of superpowered gum. 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 manages to destroy the robot's core from the inside when Bratt threatens to kill Gru. When Gru recovers, he battles Bratt in a dance fight, using it as a distraction to grab his weaponized keytar, and defeats him. 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. Lured back to villainy, Dru, along with most of the Minions, steals Gru's airship, with Gru's emblem replaced with a "D" graffiti. 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.
 * Carell also voices Dru, Gru's long-lost twin brother and the girls' adoptive uncle.
 * Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde, an Anti-Villain League agent, Gru's wife and the girls' adoptive mother.
 * 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.
 * Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Gru and Lucy's oldest adoptive daughter.
 * Dana Gaier as Edith, Gru and Lucy's middle adoptive daughter.
 * Nev Scharrel as Agnes, Gru and Lucy's youngest adoptive daughter. She was previously voiced by Elsie Fisher in the first two films.
 * Pierre Coffin as Mel and the Minions.
 * Coffin also voices a Museum Director.
 * Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, the director of the Anti-Villain League, who retires at the start of the film.
 * Coogan also voices Fritz, the butler of Dru.
 * Julie Andrews as Marlena Gru, Gru and Dru's mother.
 * Jenny Slate as Valerie Da Vinci, a member of the Anti-Villain League who becomes the brand new AVL director.
 * 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.

Additional voices

 * Lori Alan
 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Kyle Balda
 * Bob Bergen
 * Gregg Berger
 * Pierre Coffin
 * John Cygan
 * Brian T. Delaney
 * Bill Farmer
 * Danny Mann
 * Stéphanie De Meautis
 * Bruno Dequier
 * Teresa Ganzel
 * Jess Harnell
 * John Kassir
 * Mona Marshall
 * Laraine Newman
 * Jan Rabson
 * Mindy Sterling
 * Tara Strong
 * Jim Ward

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

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. Some songs are unavailable on iTunes and Google Play.

Release
The film premiered on June 14, 2017, at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. It was released in the United States on June 30, 2017. This is the first Illumination movie to be released in Dolby Vision and to be in the 2:35.1 anamorphic widescreen format.

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

Home media
Despicable Me 3 was released on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and Ultra HD Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on November 6, 2017. In the US, Despicable Me 3 was released on digital download on November 21, 2017, and on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 5, 2017. The releases also include a short film, titled The Secret Life of Kyle.

Box office
Despicable Me 3 grossed $264.6 million in the United States and Canada and $770.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.035 billion, against a production budget of $80 million. On September 8, it passed the $1 billion threshold, becoming the second Despicable Me film (after Minions), fourth Universal animated film (after Minions, Paradoria, and Imagimals), third film of 2017 (after Beauty and the Beast and The Fate of the Furious), and the eighth animated film (after Toy Story 3, Frozen, Paradoria, Minions, Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Imagimals) to pass the mark. It became the first film since The Fate of the Furious (also a Universal property) in April 2017 to make over a billion dollars. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $366.2 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the third most profitable release of 2017.

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. 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. 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). 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 (with a fresh record of 4,536 theaters showing the movie) behind newcomer Spider-Man: Homecoming ($117 million) in its third weekend.

Internationally the film was released in five markets on June 16, 2017, and grossed $9.9 million in its opening weekend. In its third week of release the film opened in 46 more markets, grossing $95.6 million. The film's largest markets were China ($158.2 million), Japan ($66.2 million), the UK ($62.7 million), Germany ($43.8 million) and France ($41.4 million)

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 59% based on 174 reviews, and an average rating of 5.7/10. The website'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." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequel
Illumination's CEO Chris Meledandri has said in September 2017 that a fourth Despicable Me film is in development.