Illumination Entertainment

Logo

(2010-): Each film released by the company has a different variant, but they all involve the Minions (the popular side characters from Despicable Me) doing a comedic skit in front of, or interacting with, the large stacked text "ILLUMINATION ENTERTAINMENT" (with "ILLUMINATION" wider than the bottom text).

• Despicable Me and Minions (NBC airing): A minion from the film peeks out from the right side of the screen, anxiously greeting the audience. Then, all of a sudden, shining text reading "ILLUMINATION ENTERTAINMENT" appears behind the minion. The minion is clearly frightened by the loud music that plays as it appears, and as the music ends, he stands stunned, and then falls over. He then crawls off the screen.
• Hop: The text is already formed, and one minion wearing bunny ears and a cotton bunny tail is prancing to the right while carrying an Easter basket and tossing confetti, while a minion in the center of the screen observes in confusion. The bunny minion shows off his costume, but the other minion is not amused.
• The Lorax: The name looks different. The text is again already formed, and we see two minions cutting down a Truffula tree with a chainsaw. A bear from the movie then lands on one of them, eating some Truffula berries. The other minion slowly backs away nervously.
• Despicable Me 2: Again, a different design for the text. As with Hop and The Lorax, the text is already formed, and two minions stand at the bottom right corner of the logo. The one-eyed minion sings "TA-DAAA!", then the two-eyed minion shoves the one-eyed minion aside and also sings "TA-DAAA!". The one-eyed minion then shoves the two-eyed minion and sings "TA-DAAA!" once again, and then the two minions then start yelling "TA-DAAA!" at each other and start pushing and shoving until the one-eyed minion shoves the other off-screen, and triumphantly yells "TA-DAAA!". The off-screen minion then chimes "TA-DAA!", causing the other to mumble in frustration while glancing out at the audience.
• Minions: The preceding Universal Pictures logo has the Minions singing the logo theme, and one Minion voice continues to sing the closing high note as the Illumination logo fades in, and the five-minion choir is standing below the already-formed text, and the one in the center is still singing the high note as the others watch. The center minion finally runs out of breath and falls flat on his face, then weakly holds out a hand for the others to lift him up, but quickly puts it back down as the other minions exchange glances.
• The Secret Life Of Pets (Prototype): A minion is seen teasing a puppy by squeaking a ball. He continues until a group of dogs comes in, and one starts to bark. The minion then throws the ball, but the dogs instead start chasing the minion offscreen. Then a chihuahua runs after the group of dogs, barking until it goes offscreen. This variant did not make it into the final movie.
• The Secret Life of Pets and Despicable Me 2 (NBC airing): The background fades in from black. Bob the Minion walks in from the right, scatting a tune. After a little while, the text "MIN" and "ION" (perhaps not coincidentally, the word "Minion") turns on and flashes briefly, while the light above the "I" in "MIN" glows. The rest of the text, "ILLU" and "AT" in "ILLUMINATION", along with "ENTERTAINMENT", turn on the same way as "MIN" and "ION". Bob gets excited, shouts "Illumination!" twice, and squees.
• Sing: Another different text design. 4 minions are shown. The one on the very right plays a harmonica, then sings La notes. He then sings "Illumination" and the other minions join as the chorus, whilst raising their arms in the air. The one on the left screams "ILLUMINATION!!" with a crazy look, and holds it for so long, the "MIN" and "ION" in "ILLUMINATION" lose power and turn off. He stops and looks at the text. He looks at the screen, and says "Whoops!" as the other minions stare in disappointment.
• Despicable Me 3: Three minions are seen. The one in the middle is holding a flower in a vase. The left minion clears his throat and tries to say "Illumination", but the middle minion knocks him out with a vase. He tries to do the same, but the next minion hits him with a hammer. Bob comes by with the fart gun from the first and second movies. The other minion successfully says the name, and then questions the fart gun, to which Bob sprays gas. The minion faints in disgust. Bob then says "ILLUMINATION!" like in The Secret Life of Pets and chuckles. The fallen minion farts on Bob and he shakes his hand in disgust.
• The Grinch Trailer: The text is off. Bob turns a flashlight on as if he's saying "Illumination" in that manner, laughing maniacally afterwards. The text suddenly turns on and he runs off in fear.
• The Grinch: Unlike other versions, it abruptly cuts in from black. Bob is waving a sparkler and says, "Illumination," then Snowball (from The Secret Life of Pets) comes down and says, "YEAH! ILLUMINATION!" Firework fountains light up, which scares Bob. The water sprinklers go off, which douse the fountains, and Bob walks up to Snowball, petting him and giving him the sparkler. The text then glows to white and dims to the movie's opening shot.
• The Secret Life of Pets 2: This is the first variant to not feature Bob since Minions. A ball bounces above the Illumination logo. Then a group of dogs being leashed by a minion runs to it and plays with it. The minion anxiously looks at the audience until the ball bounces off, causing the dogs to run at it while the minion shouts out "ILLUMINATION!" until they're off-screen.
• Sing 2: The light turns on to show Kevin, Stuart and Bob [the protagonists from Minions], alongside Mel, Otto, and other Minions as backup singers. The camera starts backing away and floats as Bob starts singing, until it gets to the "ILLUMINATION" text [in which it glows]. After the singing is over, the "LU" & "A" flickers out leaving MIN and ION before cutting to black.
• Minions: The Rise of Gru: Stuart swings on a sparkling disco ball saying "Illumination!". The disco ball knocks down the "ILL" and "AT" in the wordmark as Stuart jumps off the disco ball. He notices what the text now reads and jumps up and down excitedly while shouting "Minion!". Suddenly, the disco ball pushes the "ION" into the center, squeezing Stuart in the middle. Stuart says "Minion" again, although his voice is muffled due to him being squeezed in the middle of the text.
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Stuart is revving up on a go kart close to the finish line, then sound effects from MK8 lights up "ILLU" "MINA" & "TION" and the entire text lights up green. Stuart then attempts to drive, but suddenly, the back engine explodes and the original text lights up white, Stuart then hits the front go kart, and then drives fast, screaming "ILLUMINATION!"
• Migration: Bob blows twice on a kazoo before playing the Universal Pictures fanfare with it as the logo plays. At the last few seconds of the logo, Stuart starts playing his guitar rapidly. When the Illumination logo fades in, Bob, Stuart and Kevin are all sitting on a rock on the sea, with Kevin holding a fishing rod and the "ILLUMINATION" logo above them. As the last note of the fanfare plays, a frog on another rock jumps into the water. After finishing the fanfare, Bob runs out of breath so breathes in and out rapidly, saying "Ooh la la, Illumination." A voice offscreen scares the minions and says "And now for a bedtime story." The minions sigh before the logo transitions like a page of a book turning, starting the movie.
• Despicable Me 4: TBA.

Variants

• On the first two trailers for Hop, there's a short version of the Despicable Me variant in which it just shows the minion peeking in, but the text is already there.
• Some trailers lack the minions, such as the Sing trailer.
• Starting with Despicable Me 3 trailer 2 and the film itself, "ENTERTAINMENT" is removed.

Music/Sounds

Just the minion(s) making noises. On the Despicable Me variant, a three-note fanfare is heard as the logo appears/shines.

Scare Factor

Depending on the variant:

• Low to medium for Despicable Me variant, due to the loud music and sudden appearance of the big text.
• Low for the Sing variant as the power cut can startle a few.
• None to minimal for the Secret Life of Pets 2 variant. The text turning on could catch some off guard, but it's a cute logo.
• Minimal to low for The Grinch variant, as text turning on after Bob's evil laugh may startle a few.
• medium for Sing 2 variant, due to the sudden appearance of the minions may startle some people.
• None for the other variants.

Aside from all that, it's a very popular and humorous logo, and is beloved by many.

Video

Illumination Entertainment Logo History (2010 - 2017)