Gru, the recovering supervillain turned huggable and lovable dad, is back in action.
Universal premiered a new sequence from “Despicable Me 4,” the latest installment in the studio and its partner Illumination’s long-running animated franchise, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It featured an aspiring villainess (Joey King) as well as a new addition to the Gru family — Gru Jr., who bears a strong resemblance to his beak-nosed namesake — as they attempted a “Mission: Impossible” style heist of a heavily fortified castle. The only problem is Gru’s assistants, the Minions, brought the wrong equipment. Instead of his gear and gadgets, he is armed with only a diaper bag. That means Gru is left to deal with lasers, guards and a vicious honey badger with only diaper rash cream, baby bottles and a pacifier to protect him. It doesn’t help that Gru Jr. keeps crawling around, inadvertently setting off booby traps.
And based on the loud laughter and applause that greeted the footage, the audience of theater owners clearly can’t wait for the return of the Minions, those cuddly, highlighter-yellow creatures who have made their movies such a success with family audiences. After all, the series is responsible for a sharp uptick in popcorn sales, which is how exhibitors make most of their profits.
Illumination founder Chris Meledandri promised that the film is “joyous, surprising and filled with characters that we love.”
“Despicable Me 4” is expected to be one of the summer’s biggest hits. It finds Gru (voiced once again by Steve Carell), his wife and fellow Anti-Villain League-agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig), and their family as they go on the run when they become targeted by escaped criminal Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara). It’s a reunion for Wiig and Ferrell, who appeared concurrently on “SNL,” as well as between Ferrell and Carell, who co-starred in “Anchorman.” The ensemble of memorable voices also includes Joey King,Miranda Cosgrove,Chloe Fineman andStephen Colbert (Carell’s old colleague on “The Daily Show”).
The sequel opens in theaters on July3. Illumination is riding high. Not only has the animation house scored with the likes of “Secret Life of Pets” and “Sing,” it also released last year’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which made north of $1 billion to become the second highest-grossing release of 2023. The company announced it is once again working with Nintendo on a “Mario Bros.” movie.
