Despicable Me 4

Despicable Me 4 is a 2024 American animated comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017), the fourth main installment, and the sixth overall installment in the Despicable Me franchise. The film was directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Patrick Delage (in his feature directorial debut), 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, Steve Coogan, Sofía Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Renaud, Madison Polan, Dana Gaier, Chloe Fineman, and Will Ferrell. The film sees reformed supervillain and secret agent Gru (Carell) relocate his family to a safe house when his old rival Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell) seeks revenge. Subplots deal with Gru's family adjusting to their new lives, teenage neighbor Poppy Prescott (King) trying to follow in Gru's villainous footsteps, and a group of Gru's Minions (Coffin) becoming superheroes.

Development on a fourth main 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. Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams returned from previous installments to compose the score and write original songs and themes, respectively.

Despicable Me 4 premiered at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on June 9, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 3. Despite mixed reviews, it grossed $574.4 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2024.

Plot
Anti-Villain League (AVL) agent Gru attends a reunion at his school Lycée Pas Bon where he reunites with his rival Maxime Le Mal, who has a feud with Gru for stealing his talent show act when they were younger. Maxime reveals he has enhanced himself with cockroach parts to make himself overpowered and so he can conquer the world, but Gru has him arrested with the help of the AVL. Maxime escapes prison with the help of his girlfriend Valentina and reveals his invention that turns people into human-roach hybrids, which he plans to use specifically on Gru's biological infant son Gru Jr.

Silas Ramsbottom visits the Gru household to inform them of Maxime's escape, and that the AVL will have to relocate the Gru family to a house in another town named Mayflower under new identities until Maxime is captured. Most of the Minions are taken in by the AVL, where Silas selects five of them—Dave, Mel, Gus, Tim and Jerry—to be augmented with powers under an initiative called the Megaminions, but the initiative is called off after the group causes collateral damage in a city.

In their new well-off residential town, Gru and his family meet their neighbors the Prescotts and their teenage daughter Poppy. Poppy, an aspiring villainess, recognizes Gru from his former career as a villain and threatens to blow his cover unless he helps her pull a heist to steal Lycée Pas Bon's mascot, a honey badger named Lenny, so she can be enrolled there. The pair, with the help of three Minions and Gru Jr., successfully steal Lenny from the school. The school's elderly principal Übelschlecht identifies Gru via security cam footage and contacts Maxime to inform him about Gru's whereabouts using a tracker in Lenny's collar.

The next day, while Gru and Lucy are away at tennis practice with the Prescotts, Principal Übelschlecht visits the house to interrogate the girls about Gru's whereabouts. Gru and Lucy rush back home after being called by Margo and they fight Übelschlecht. Lucy also contacts the AVL who in turn calls the Megaminions out of retirement to stop Maxime. In the chaos, however, Gru Jr. leaves the house and is spotted by Maxime and Valentina who proceed to kidnap him.

With the help of Poppy, Gru meets up with Maxime at a building where he reveals he has transformed Gru Jr. into a roach hybrid and fights him off with Gru Jr. Gru's encouraging words to his son manage to break Gru Jr. free from his state and attack Maxime instead. Maxime falls to the ground where he is further squashed by the Megaminions and the aid of other animals and insects, who arrive in turn to arrest him and Valentina.

Gru and his family return to their home, where Dr. Nefario reverses Gru Jr.'s transformation. Gru later visits Maxime in prison to talk and settle their differences. The pair then performs "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" for the prisoners, including all of Gru's past adversaries, while Poppy is shown to have enrolled in Lycée Pas Bon.

Voice cast

 * Steve Carell as Gru, a former supervillain turned Anti-Villain League agent; who is Margo, Edith, and Agnes' adoptive father, the biological father of Gru Jr., and Lucy's husband, who poses as "Chet Cunningham"
 * Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde, an Anti-Villain League agent, Gru's wife and adoptive mother to Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and Gru Jr.'s biological mother, who poses as "Blanche Cunningham"
 * Will Ferrell as Maxime Le Mal, a French-accented supervillain with enhanced cockroach parts who seeks revenge on Gru and his family
 * Joey King as Poppy Prescott, an aspiring supervillainess who has admired Gru for a long time, and Gru's new neighbor in Mayflower
 * Sofía Vergara as Valentina, Maxime's femme fatale girlfriend
 * Stephen Colbert as Perry Prescott, Poppy's father, Patsy's husband, and Gru's new neighbor in Mayflower
 * Chloe Fineman as Patsy Prescott, Poppy's mother, Perry's wife, and Gru's new neighbor in Mayflower
 * Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Gru and Lucy's oldest adopted daughter, who poses as "Bree Cunningham"
 * Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, the previously retired director of the Anti-Villain League
 * Pierre Coffin as the Minions, the yellow henchmen of Gru, most of whom later get jobs at the Anti-Villain League as agents
 * Dana Gaier as Edith, Gru and Lucy's middle adopted daughter, who poses as "Blair Cunningham"
 * Madison Polan as Agnes, Gru and Lucy's youngest adopted daughter, who poses as "Britney Cunningham". Polan replaces Nev Scharrel from the third film
 * Chris Renaud as Principal Übelschlecht, the principal of Lycée Pas Bon

Additionally, John DiMaggio, who had previously voiced one of the former henchmen of Wild Knuckles in Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) and a Scoutmaster in the Minion Scouts animated short, voices Karl, a bus driver who works for the AVL transporting the remaining Minions to their new destination. Laraine Newman voices Melora, a salon customer who was accidentally burned by Lucy, and Romesh Ranganathan voices Dr. Nefario, Gru's gadgeteer who provides inventions for him and his Minions. Ranganathan replaces Nefario's long-time actor, Russell Brand.

Non-speaking cameos at the end of the film include Gru's neighbor, Fred McDade, his mother Marlena, and his twin brother Dru, as well as several villains from previous installments: Vector, his father Mr. Perkins, El Macho, Balthazar Bratt, Scarlet and Herb Overkill, and the remaining members of the Vicious 6; Belle Bottom, Jean-Clawed, Svengeance, Stronghold, and Nun-Chuck.

Development
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. 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. Production was underway by June 2022, with Steve Carell starting his voice recording after a "couple of sessions". Most of the production was done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2024, it was announced that Carell, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Pierre Coffin, and Steve Coogan would return to reprise their respective roles as Gru, Lucy Wilde, Margo, Edith, the Minions, and Silas Ramsbottom, while Will Ferrell, Joey King, Sofía Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Chloe Fineman, and Madison Polan (replacing Nev Scharrel) would join the voice cast, respectively voicing Maxime Le Mal, Poppy Prescott, Valentina, Perry Prescott, Patsy Prescott, and Agnes. That same month, it was announced that The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) executive producer Brett Hoffman and Daurio had been added as co-producer and co-writer, respectively.

Animation
According to film director Chris Renaud, some of the characters who appeared in previous films had their character rigs and surfaces updated for this sequel. Fred McDade, who had not appeared since the first film was recreated from scratch as his character model was too old. The sequence where Poppy plays with an arcade machine originally started out as an animation test for the character, but the filmmakers liked the sequence so much that it was added to the final cut of the film.

Music
In March 2024, Heitor Pereira was announced to be composing the film's score, returning from the previous installments. Pharrell Williams was also confirmed to be returning to co-compose the score with Pereira as well as to write new songs. The original soundtrack was released on June 27, 2024, by Back Lot Music.

Marketing
The first trailer for the film was released on January 28, 2024, during the 2023–24 NFL playoff championship games. 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. CBR reported that the trailer showcased "the struggles of welcoming in a new member of the Gru family" and included the debut of Will Ferrell's Maxime Le Mal. Screen Rant's Brennan Klein observed that Gru's tumultuous relationship with his son, Gru Jr., contrasted with the good relationship with his adopted daughters. An additional trailer was revealed on February 11 during Super Bowl LVIII, being narrated by Jon Hamm, who previously voiced Herb Overkill in the 2015 spin-off film Minions, and featuring cameos by Ferrell and Steve Carell. Ryan Gajewski of The Hollywood Reporter said the trailer appeared to "tout the benefits of modern technology but feature strange images supposedly generated by AI," enjoying the Renaissance-era-inspired poses of Ferrell and Carell in the trailer. On April 10, at CinemaCon, Universal displayed a clip of Gru and Poppy trying to steal a honey badger. Brennan Kline of Screen Rant appreciated that the clip solidified the "important element" of Gru's domestic family man status in the sequel.

The second trailer was released on May 7, 2024. Writing for TheWrap, Drew Taylor called the trailer "Minions-heavy" and pointed out one of Pharrell Williams' new original songs featured in the trailer. Collider noted the "devastating consequences" of enlisting a small group of Minion volunteers for an experiment that gave them superpowers. Journalist Diego Peralta pointed out a sequence in which one of the super-powered minions destroys a part of their base with laser vision and said that villains Maxime and Valentina "are more dangerous than any threat Gru has faced before."

On June 8, 2024, Illumination released a parody teaser for the film in which Steve Carell announces the Megaverse, a parody of shared universes such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe, by claiming that Illumination would release 100 years' worth of films, television series, and stage productions starring the Mega Minions. Illumination also published a website for the Megaverse. Some of the fake productions noted on the website include Mega Minions: The Tax Write-Off and an untitled Mega Minions spin-off series with a "story to be determined based on rigorous market testing and ad hoc decision-making." The stunt was praised for its lampooning of current Hollywood affairs such as the cancellation of Warner Bros. films like Batgirl, Scoob! Holiday Haunt and Coyote vs. Acme and the 2022 DCEU film Black Adam, as well as the mixed reception to Disney's live-action remakes of their classic animated films and many of Marvel's recent productions, such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion.

Theatrical
Despicable Me 4 premiered at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on June 9, 2024, and made its French premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 13. The film was theatrically released in Australia on June 20, and in the United States on July 3.

Home media
As part of Universal's long-term 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.

Box office
, Despicable Me 4 has grossed $259.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $315 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $574.4 million.

In the United States and Canada, Despicable Me 4 was projected to gross $100–125 million from 4,030 theaters in its five-day opening weekend. The film made $27 million on its first day and $20.4 million on its second. It went on to debut to $75 million over the traditional three-day weekend, along with a total five-day gross of $122.6 million, topping the box office. The film made $43.6 million the following weekend, remaining in first place. In its third weekend, the film made $259.5 million, finishing in second behind newcomer Twisters.

Internationally the film opened in different countries with different dates, with Australia being the earliest country to release it. The film opened big in multiple countries, and in some it settled franchise records, though in many countries that it opened prior to its US release date, the film opened second behind Inside Out 2, slowing its international climb.

Critical response
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale (same as the first two films), while those surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an 82% positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Variety admitted the film is entertaining but found the plot overcrowded with useless characters: "One thing is absolutely certain: We haven't seen the last of these characters, even if we might prefer that a few of them sit out the next sequel—like the Mega Minions, who aren't nearly as cute as they sound." A similar appraisal can be found in Screen Rant or in The Hollywood Reporter, noting, for example, the underdeveloped role of the villain in the midst of the various plot lines: "Running a brisk 95 minutes, Despicable Me 4 doesn't leave enough time for Maxime to enact his plans in a way that packs an emotional punch." ABC News commented: "Should a review of a 'Despicable Me' movie be a thoughtful analysis or just a list of the funny stuff the Minions do in it? As much as I might believe in the value of film criticism, I kind of suspect that even the finest points of assessment would be dismantled about as fast as a Minion can say 'Bello!

Possible sequel
Renaud mentioned that Despicable Me 5 is "possible" if a fresh story can be crafted for the franchise's future.