The project will be produced by Chris Meledandri, Founder and CEO of Illumination, and Shigeru Miyamoto, Representative Director, Fellow of Nintendo.

The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and distributed theatrically worldwide by Universal.

Illumination, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures, has garnered an extraordinary number of franchise successes for a studio only a decade old. As the creator of the hugely successful world of Despicable Me, which was recently crowned the top-grossing box-office animated franchise globally, Illumination has evolved the Despicable Me series to include Minions, the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time and the most profitable film in Universal’s history, as well as the Academy Award-nominated Despicable Me 2 and summer 2017’s Despicable Me 3, which crossed $1 billion at the global box office to become the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Illumination’s upcoming films—featuring creative contributors from an unparalleled collection of writers, artists, voice talent and musicians—include Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch in November 2018, The Secret Life of Pets 2 in June 2019, Minions 2 in July 2020, and Sing 2 in December 2020.