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Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American animation studio founded by producer Chris Meledandri in 2007. It has an "exclusive financing and distribution partnership" with Universal Pictures (which itself is a division of Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, a unit of NBCUniversal) wherein Illumination produces the films as an independent contractor and Universal finances and distributes them.

The studio is best known for creating the Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets and Sing franchises, as well as the adaptations of Dr. Seuss' books The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Nintendo video games, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the mascots of the studio.

Illumination has produced 16 feature films, with an average gross of $651 million per film. Its first film, Despicable Me, was released on July 9, 2010, and its latest film, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, was released on April 1, 2026; their upcoming slate of films include Minions & Monsters on July 1, 2026, Not Alone on April 16, 2027, and an untitled Nintendo film on April 12, 2028. Two of the studio's films—Minions (2015) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)—are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with the latter having the highest-grossing opening for an animated film in its initial release; eight of their films are also among the 50 highest-grossing animated films.

This is an A to Z listing of some of the best film making companies on planet earth, in our opinion. We also quote and reference the views and reviews of others for the purposes of balanced comparison.

AMAZON MGM  - PRIME VIDEO & 007 JAMES BOND FRANCHISE

ALLIANCE FILMS - ENTERTAINMENT ONE

ALLIED ARTISTS

AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT

ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT

BBC - BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION TELEVISION

BONA FILM GROUP

CAPTIVATE ENTERTAINMENT LLC

CENTROPOLIS ENTERTAINMENT

CHANNEL 4 - BRITISH FOURTH TELEVISION BROADCASTER

COLUMBIA PICTURES

DAVIS ENTERTAINMENT

DIMENSION FILMS

DREAMWORKS - ANIMATION

HBO

HOLLYWOOD PICTURES

ILLUMINATION - ANIMATION

LIONSGATE

MILLENIUM

MIRAMAX

MGM

NETFLIX

ORIGINAL FILM PRODUCTION

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

PERFECT WORLD PICTURES

PIXAR - ANIMATION

RELATIVITY MEDIA

SILVER SCREEN PARTNERS

SKY ATLANTIC

SKYDANCE MEDIA

TOUCHSTONE PICTURES

TRISTAR PICTURES

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION

UNITED ARTISTS

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

WALT DISNEY PICTURES

WARNER BROS PICTURES

LINKS & REFERENCE

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