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The complete list of songs that appear in Illumination's "Sing."

The post A Complete List of Every Song in Illumination’s ‘Sing’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

"I feel like I have learned more in the last three-and-a-half years than on anything else I've done before."

The post INTERVIEW: ‘Sing’ Director Garth Jennings Jumps Headfirst into Animation appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

The Eighties are back in a big way.

The post ‘South Park’ Co-Creator Trey Parker Steals the Show In ‘Despicable Me 3’ Trailer appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

The Eighties are back in a big way. Totally rad!

The post A New Villain, Balthazar Bratt, Steals the Show In ‘Despicable Me 3’ Trailer appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Animation is No. 1 all over the world!

The post ‘Moana’ Three-peats Atop U.S. Box Office, ‘Your Name’ #1 In China, ‘Sing’ Tops in Germany appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

The opening weekend of "Moana" is solid, but questions remain whether it can match "Zootopia" or "Frozen."

The post ‘Moana’ Enjoys 1st Place Launch in the U.S., But Opens Soft in China appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

This looks like a very different film from earlier trailers.

The post ‘Sing’ Gets Serious With Its Latest Trailer appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

"Storks" didn't connect with audiences. Was it simply a poor film or another WB marketing goof-up?

The post ‘Storks’ Doesn’t Fly, While ‘Secret Life of Pets’ Surpasses ‘The Jungle Book’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Illumination Entertainment has found its second franchise!

The post ‘Secret Life of Pets’ Sequel Confirmed—And It’s Coming Soon appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Chris Renaud talks about comic influences on "The Secret Life of Pets," Illumination's unconventional workflow, and the studio's fluid production process that allows humor to be added in during every stage of production.

The post Director Chris Renaud On ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

American animated features are unstoppable all over the globe.

The post ‘Finding Dory’ Three-Peats In U.S.; ‘Secret Life of Pets,’ ‘Ice Age’ Strong Internationally appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Illumination's all-animal musical comedy will be out in December.

The post New Trailer for Illumination’s ‘Sing’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

A Comcast deal could potentially spell the end of Dreamworks' feature animation division.

The post Katzenberg Might Leave Dreamworks: Stunning New Details from Comcast Negotiations appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Comcast would reportedly pay over $3 billion for the animation studio.

The post Breaking: Comcast in Talks To Buy Dreamworks Animation appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

2016 is shaping up to be the year of the animated animal feature, and "Sing" just might be the quirkiest film of the bunch.

The Aardman theatrical animation brand has become all but obsolete in the United States.

The Chinese box office made a bold statement this weekend.

New York's favorite hangdog comic is set to play an actual dog.

We've got our first look at Illumination Entertainment's "Minions," the spin-off/prequel to the studio's massively popular "Despicable Me" franchise.

Today we look at the work of Robin Joseph, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures have moved the release date of the Minions spin-off movie from December 19, 2014 to July 10, 2015. The decision was made to ensure a better film. Just kidding. Variety reports that they’re moving the date to “enable Universal to fully exploit the film as a summer tentpole that lends itself to a vast consumer products program, games and theme park promotions.” In other words, they need more time to make fart guns.

Despicable Me 2 is on track to become the most profitable film in Universal Pictures’ 100-plus year history, and that has turned Illumination Entertainment head Chris Meledandri into the current darling of Hollywood. This Bloomberg Businessweek piece is one of the few things I’ve read about Meledandri’s low-budget approach to feature animation. He pioneered this lower-risk model while he was at Fox, where he was responsible for the Ice Age series, one of the most successful animated feature franchises in history.

“We’re not spending our money on every blade of grass and the leaves on the trees,” says Janet Healy, who is Meledandri’s co-producer. Not only is the production process more restrained, but so is the development process. Illumination picks and chooses exactly what it wants to produce instead of spending money developing numerous pictures that may never move into production. Illumination’s US office has only 35 employees, and though most of the creative work is done elsewhere (particularly Mac Guff in Paris), that’s still a modest corporate structure for a feature animation studio.

Meledandri, like DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and increasingly John Lasseter at Pixar and Disney, prides himself on the producer-driven approach to filmmaking. He mentions in the article that there is never any dissent because he oversees creative approvals on a daily basis: “There is never a situation where a production proceeds down a path only to discover those with ultimate creative authority aren’t in agreement.” The strategy has worked exceedingly well for him so far, though the strategy isn’t always clear, even to those who work with him. “I think he’s got a vision,” says his co-producer Healy. “I just don’t know what it is.”

In spite of a soft third-place opening in the United States, Sony’s Smurfs 2, directed by Raja Gosnell, managed to become the number one film globally last weekend. The film opened with just $17.5 million in U.S. theaters, but made up for it with $52.5 mil in over forty international markets. Even with the strong overseas opening, the film is unlikely to top the original Smurfs worldwide gross of $563.7 mil.

Illumination’s juggernaut Despicable Me 2 scored $10.1 mil in its fifth U.S. weekend, boosting its domestic cume to $326.4 mil. It also added $13.8 mil internationally, and after last weekend, its global gross is $716.7 mil. It is the third highest-grossing movie of the year so far, trailing only Iron Man 3 and Fast & Furious 6. Disney’s Monsters University earned $1.4 mil domestically and $11.4 mil internationally. Its global total is $613.5 million through last weekend.

In Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) held onto the top spot in its third week of release. The film grossed $5.6 mil from 454 screens, and has a Japanese box office total of $44.3 mil.

Turbo, the DreamWorks-produced and David Soren-directed animated feature about the snail that could, opened in a disappointing third place in the U.S. with an esimated $21.5 million. The film is the third-lowest all-time opening weekend for a DreamWorks CGI film, doing better than only Antz (1998) and the Aardman-produced Flushed Away (2006). However, adjusted for inflation and 3D prices, Turbo had the smallest opening weekend audience EVER for a DreamWorks CG pic. The film has grossed $31.2 million since opening last Wednesday.

Illumination’s Despicable Me 2 kept up its amazing run in its third weekend. The film landed in second place with an estimated $25.1 million. Its current domestic total is a smashing $276 million, and by next weekend it will pass Man of Steel to become the second-highest grossing film in America this year. Holding up the tenth place spot was Pixar’s Monsters University, which earned an estimated $5 million in its fifth weekend. The film’s total now stands at a robust $249 million.

International numbers to come in a bit.

The audience pleasers Monsters University and Despicable Me 2 have now resulted in fully-animated features leading the U.S. box office for four straight weeks. Despicable Me 2 retained its number one slot this weekend while facing stiff competition from two newcomers—Grown Ups 2 and Pacific Rim. The modestly budgeted Illumination film grossed an estimated $44.8 million over the 3-day span, boosting its overall total to $229.2M.

To put this into perspective, the last time that fully-animated features led the U.S. box office for four weeks or longer was nearly twenty years ago, when Toy Story was the number one film for six straight weeks in 1995.

In its fourth weekend, Monsters University landed in sixth place, grossing $10.6M for a $237.8M domestic cume. International figures for these films coming soon.