Despicable Me dethrones Shrek to become world's top-grossing animated film franchise

Who doesn’t adore the bald, grumpy Gru and his countless little yellow minions? With the latest installment, Despicable Me 3, still going strong at the box-office, it has catapulted the franchise as the world’s highest-grossing animated film franchise ever. This position was earlier held by Dreamworks Pictures’ Shrek (2001) which also went on to win the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. [caption id=“attachment_932691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Despicable Me 2. Courtesy: Facebook[/caption] According  to a report by Deadline, the overall global gross-revenue generated by Despicable Me franchise, including the three films and the spin-off Minions (2015), is estimated to be around $3.528 billion which overtakes that of Shrek which is around $3.51 billion. The first of all these films, 2010’s Despicable Me, was directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. It brought open the world of Gru, his three adorable adopted girls and the yellow-gibberish-speaking minions. The film earned $546 million globally. The sequel, Despicable Me 2, that released in 2013, was also helmed by the duo — Coffin and Renaud. It went on to become the second best animated film of the year, after Disney’s Frozen. While the latter won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature that year, the second Despicable Me film was a strong contender in the nomination list. This film garnered around $976 million worldwide, reports Deadline. In 2015 came the spin-off film on the tiny-yellow henchmen, Minions. Owing to the huge popularity that these minions of Gru had gathered in all these years, the producers felt it was wise to cash on it. And they nailed it. The film became the highest grossing film of the year and the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time, after Frozen. It had voices of actors like Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Jennifer Saunders etc. This year, in 2017, the third installment, Despicable Me 3 hit the theatres and with every passing day is getting stronger. With an overall earnings of $879.5 million, and still counting, the film is already the highest grosser in the realm of animated films — in the US, as well as globally. With a sequel to Minions already in the pipeline, the Despicable Me franchise is all set to take on the world.