Despicable Me 4 is an upcoming American animated comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. It will serve as the sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017), the fourth main installment, and the sixth installment overall in the Despicable Me franchise. The film is directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Patrick Delage, produced by Chris Meledandri and Brett Hoffman, and written by Mike White and Ken Daurio. It stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Stephen Colbert, Sofía Vergara, Steve Coogan, Renaud, Madison Polan, Dana Gaier, Chloe Fineman, and Will Ferrell.
Despicable Me 4 | |
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Directed by | Chris Renaud |
Written by | |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Edited by | Tiffany Hillkurtz |
Music by |
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Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Development on a fourth Despicable Me film began in September 2017. It was officially confirmed in February 2022, with Renaud, Delage, and White attached as director, co-director, and writer, respectively. Production was underway by June 2022. Most of the main voice cast was announced in January 2024, with Hoffman and Daurio revealed as co-producer and co-writer, respectively.
Despicable Me 4 is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on July 3, 2024.
Gru (Carell), the world's favourite supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, returns for an exciting, bold new era of Minions mayhem, alongside his wife and fellow Anti-Villain League-agent Lucy (Wiig), their three adopted girls —Margo (Cosgrove), Edith (Gaier) and Agnes (Polan)— and the newest member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. The family is forced to go on the run when they become targeted by escaped criminal Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Vergara).
— Universal Pictures and Illumination[1]
Additionally, Chris Renaud has been cast in an undisclosed role.
Development of Despicable Me 4 began in September 2017, with longtime Despicable Me and Illumination writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio writing early drafts of the script.[4] The film was officially confirmed in February 2022, with veteran Despicable Me director Chris Renaud, Patrick Delage, and Mike White attached as director, co-director, and writer, respectively, and a July 3, 2024 release date announced.[5][6] Production was underway by June 2022, with Steve Carell starting his voice recording after a "couple of sessions".[7]
In January 2024, it was announced that Will Ferrell, Joey King, Sofía Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Chloe Fineman, and Madison Polan would join the voice cast, with Ferrell, King, Vergara, and Polan (replacing Nev Scharrel) voicing Maxime Le Mal, Poppy, Valentina, and Agnes, respectively.[8][2] Colbert and Fineman's roles were confirmed to be those of Poppy's parents, Perry and Patsy, in May.[3] It was also announced in January that The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) executive producer Brett Hoffman and Daurio had been added as co-producer and co-writer, respectively.[1]
In March 2024, Heitor Pereira was announced to be composing the film's score, returning from the first three films.[9] Pharrell Williams was also confirmed to be returning to co-compose the score with Pereira, as well as to write new songs.[10]
The first trailer for the film was released on January 28, 2024, during the 2023–24 NFL playoffs championship games.[11] The trailer features the songs "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses and "Maneater" by Hall & Oates, as well as in television showings, "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce. The trailer has 21 million views as of May 2024.[12] An additional trailer was revealed on February 11 during the Super Bowl LVIII, being narrated by Jon Hamm, who previously voiced Herb Overkill in the Minions spin-off, and featured cameos from Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. Ryan Gajewski of The Hollywood Reporter said the trailer had appeared to "tout the benefits of modern technology but feature strange images supposedly generated by AI", enjoying the Renaissance-era inspired pose of Ferrell and Carell in the trailer.[13] The second trailer was released on May 7, 2024.[14]
Despicable Me 4 is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 3, 2024.[5]
As part of Universal's deal with Netflix, the film will stream on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next ten, and returning to Peacock for the remaining four.[15][16]