As in the case with most Hollywood projects, there are a couple of dominant names within the animation industry. For years, a single studio was the face of animation in Hollywood: Disney. The company has been releasing animated features in theaters since 1937, when they premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. From there, the studio continued to make hits, many of which were nominated for major awards. The animation landscape changed when DreamWorks was created in the ’90s. Their first movie, The Prince of Egypt, was critically acclaimed upon its 1998 release.
DreamWorks would go on to release Shrek, which rivals Disney Pixar’s Toy Story movies as one of the biggest animated series of all time. Disney and DreamWorks still dominate the box office today, with both studios producing high-grossing films in 2024. Over the last two decades, however, the animated landscape has continued to shift as studios like Blue Sky Studios, Laika, and Aardman rose to greater prominence. One non-Disney studio has produced some huge hits in recent years, and several of its films are doing well on streaming.
Illumination Is Dominating The Netflix Charts
Four Of Their Films Are On The Netflix Charts
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Four Illumination films have managed to chart on Netflix this week. Illumination (formerly Illumination Entertainment) was founded in 2007 by Chris Meledandri. They released their first feature film, Despicable Me in 2010. Despicable Me would go on to become one of the biggest franchises of all time, spawning three direct sequels as well as two Minion spinoff movies. Though Illumination has only produced 15 feature films, their box office track record has proven that the studio is formidable competition to the likes of Disney and DreamWorks.
Showing its dominance once again, Illumination is dominating the Netflix global charts this week. The no. 1 English-language movie, garnering 15 million views was Illumination sequel The Secret Life of Pets 2. The first Secret Life of Pets movie made it to the no. 4 slot, while two more Illumination movies, Despicable Me 2 and Despicable Me made it to no. 5 and no. 7, respectively.
Our Take On Illumination’s Netflix Success
The Despicable Me Movies Are Leaving Soon
The Despicable Me franchise’s Netflix success should come as no surprise based on recent trends. Despicable Me 4 was a box office hit last year, and both of the chartworthy franchise films are leaving Netflix on February 1. Time frame limits will often lead viewers to watch films again, as they will be lumped in a “leaving soon” category that propels audiences to watch them. The fact that The Secret Life of Pets movies were even more successful than Despicable Me, however, shows just how far Illumination has come as a studio outside just their main franchise.
Source: Netflix