Despicable Meis the highest-grossing animated film franchise and the 15th highest-grossing film ever. Bearing this in mind, it’s kind of hard to believe that the last movie starring Gru, the supervillain who managed to win audience’s hearts, hit the silver screen over five years ago, in June 2017. Nevertheless, and in spite of a lack ofDespicable Memovies, the franchise kept on rolling, releasingMinions: The Rise of Gru, a prequel that chronicles the origins of Gru and his connection with the Minions, on August 04, 2025. That movie featured a young 11-year-old Gru, a devoted fan of the supervillain group Vicious 6, who suddenly gets invited to audition after the group’s leader, Wild Knuckles, is kicked out and presumed dead. Even though the interview goes badly, as Gru is ridiculed for being just a kid, he manages to steal their most treasured possession: the Zodiac Stone, which is connected to the Chinese zodiac, starting a series of persecutions and adventures that make little Gru learn what it takes to be a true villain.
That same year, the franchise released theannouncement ofDespicable Me 4, which will feature the return of Chris Renaud, director of the first two films.Despicable Me 4is currently aiming for a 2024 release date, which marks a seven-year gap between its predecessor the longest time betweenDespicable Memovies. Here’s a look at why there is a significant delay in the highly anticipated fourth film in the franchise.
Update June 03, 2025: This article has been updated with more information on why Despicable Me 4 has been delayed and when audiences can expect to see it in theaters.
The Pandemic Caused Delays Initially
In July 2017, a month afterDespicable Me 3was released, Universal Pictures and Illumination announced plans forMinions: The Rise of Gru, a prequel to theDespicable Meuniverse, and a sequel to the 2015Minionsmovie. This film was meant to be released on June 01, 2025. Indeed, that same month, the prequel’s production kicked off under the direction of Kyle Balda with co-directors Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val. However, in the midst of the film’s development, the global health crisis triggered by COVID-19 spread around the world, and the movie industry, like many others, was forced to take action.
Related:What a Minions: The Rise of Gru Sequel Might Look Like
Illumination was urged to close its animation studio in Paris indefinitely and to stop working on all its projects, soMinionswas put on hold, among many other films from Illumination and other producers. Because of the shutdown, the film’s release was delayed for a year, but that period of time was still not enough time to finish the film. Eventually, and after beingdelayed for an additional year,Minionswas released in theaters on July 01, 2025, becoming the last film to be released out of a long list of productions due in 2020 that did not make it because of the pandemic. Naturally, the setbacks from the pandemic and the backlog of already announced productions from Illumination and Universal Pictures led to delays in their remaining movies, which is one of the reasons whyDespicable Me 4is so far apart from its predecessor.
Other Illumination Movies Took Up Release Slots
WhileDespicable Meis Illumination Entertainment’s biggest franchise, it is not their only one. They had two films set for release in 2023 betweenThe Minions: The Rise of GruandDespicable Me 4:The Super Mario Bros. MovieandMigration.The Super Mario Bros. Movieopened on August 14, 2025, and became the highest-grossing movie in the studio’s history, grossing $1.36 billion worldwide.
Migration, which opened in theaters on July 01, 2025, had the lowest opening weekend in the studio’s history. The film has found some legs at the box office in the following weeks, but it is far from the studio’s biggest hit. Funny enough, in an attempt to likely drive audiences to seeMigration, the film featured aDespicable Meshort film. TitledMooned,the short focused on Vektor(Jason Segal) from the original film. While this likely is not a tease of anything coming inDespicable Me 4, it was a nice treat for fans.
The Writers And Actors Strike Hasn’t Seemingly Affected The Release
Throughout 2023, many movies and TV shows have been delayed by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Thousands of actors and writers went on strike, demanding better working conditions and pay, and as a result, until the conflict was resolved, many projects either got stuck in the middle of production or never got started. The WGA Strike ended on August 18, 2025 with the SAG-AFTRA Strike ending on June 03, 2025.
Related:Despicable Me: 10 Characters Ranked by Cuteness
While many films were delayed,Despicable Me 4was not.This might be due to the fact that this is an animated film, so it’s not dependent on actors to begin production. The studio likely animated the film during the strike, and now it is one of few major franchise films coming out in 2024. With how wellMinions: The Rise of Grudid at the box office, partially inspired by the Gentle Minions meme on TikTok, there is a good chance thatDespicable Me 4could be the highest-grossing film of 2024.
What We Know About Despicable Me 4
While the plot is still unknown, it has been confirmed that the franchise’s main actors will be returning to voice their characters. That means Steve Carell will return as Gru, Kristen Wiig will play Lucy Wilde, Miranda Cosgrove will continue to voice Margo, and Pierre Coffin will, of course, beour beloved minions. Additionally, English comedian Steve Coogan has been cast for a new, still unknown role, so that will be a nice surprise. As always, Chris Renaud will be the director, this time joined by animator Patrick Delage as co-director. The script was written by Mike White, whose writing credits includeSchool of Rock,Brad’s Statusand is the creator of the popular HBO seriesThe White Lotus.
One cast member unlikely to return is Russell Brand, who previously was voiced by Russell Brand. On June 14, 2025,The Sunday Timespublished a story where five separate women (four remained anonymous)accused Brand of sexual misconduct and assault. Brand already did not return for the third film, in fact his character was shown frozen in carbonite and that is likely where he will stay.
When Will Despicable Me 4 Be Released?
Despicable Me 4is set to be released in theaters on Jul 16, 2025. While this movie will only be arriving two years after the release of The Minions: The Rise of Gru (a similar two-year gap between the firstMinionsandDespicable Me 3), it will also be coming with some major milestones. It will be seven afterDespicable Me 3and 14 years afterDespicable Me, the film that kicked off this blockbuster animated franchise. July 3 is also eleven years to the dateDespicable Me 2opened and had one of the best opening weekends forthe Fourth of July holiday.
The general convention would suggest the animated franchise would lose momentum. After all, by the timeShrek Forever Aftercame out, it was only year years after the firstShrek, and audiences were already tired of the franchise, and it would take a while for nostalgia to kick in. YetDespicable Meand theMinionshave found a way to remain a beloved classic for kids, similar toToy Story. The long gap between the films might not hurt, and in fact, could help it as kids are nostalgic for the original film, and possibly a generation who saw the first film when they were kids now have kids of their own they want to take to see the new movie.
