History Trivia / DespicableMe

* ReferencedBy: In the ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' episode "What We Owe to Each Other", Michael wins a stuffed Minion from a claw machine. He calls it an ugly yellow toddler, but thinks it's one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen.

* ReferencedBy: In the ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' episode "What We Owe to Each Other", Michael wins a stuffed minion from a claw machine. He calls it an ugly yellow toddler, but thinks it's one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://despicableme.wikia.com/wiki/Despicable_Me_Wiki Here]] is the wikia for the movie franchise.

!!Trivia pages for works in the ''Franchise/DespicableMe'' franchise:

* ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen/DespicableMe What Could Have Been]]''

* ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen/DespicableMe What Could Have Been]]''

* ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen/DespicableMe What Could Have Been]]''

* ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/DespicableMe''

Trivia pages for the ''Franchise/DespicableMe'' franchise:
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* ''Trivia/MinionsTheRiseOfGru''

* ''Trivia/Minions''

* ActingForTwo:
** In the European Spanish version, actor and humorist Florentino Fernández voices Gru and Gru's mother.
** Creator/PierreCoffin as the minions Bob, Mark, Phil, Stuart and Tim.
* AllStarCast: So much so that the teaser trailer devotes 10 seconds just for the roll call of names; including Creator/SteveCarell, Creator/JasonSegel, Creator/MirandaCosgrove, Creator/RussellBrand, Creator/KristenWiig, Creator/WillArnett, Creator/JulieAndrews and Creator/DannyMcBride. Unique for an animated film with this depth of talent, however, just about all of the actors put on various accents to emphasize their characters as opposed to using their normal voices.
* CelebrityVoiceActor: The Brazilian Portuguese dub has comedians, and at the time comedy duo, Leandro Hassum and Marcius Melhem as Gru and Vector respectively.
* BreakthroughHit: While not groundbreaking in terms of story and animation, the film was able to establish Creator/{{Universal}} as a new and capable player in the animation world. Something that would be solidified with the success of its sequels and spinoffs a few years later.
* CashCowFranchise: The film series has become this for Creator/IlluminationEntertainment, becoming its most profitable work. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films#Highest-grossing_franchises_and_film_series As of 2020]], it is the ''highest grossing animated film franchise of all time.'' [[note]]Technically, many of the other listed franchises had animated installments; notably, ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' both had animated movies made before their more well-known live action installments, while ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' had both a [[WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm theatrical entry in an animated series]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie a LEGO adaptation in 2018]], not to mention various direct-to-video animated films. At the same time, they usually only make up a very minor portion of the overall take, compared to ''Despicable Me'', which is entirely animation.[[/note]] On top of that, the Minions are pretty much everywhere in one way or another. Their faces are up there with [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob]] and WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons in terms of "cartoon characters we can slap onto a yellow product".
* ChildrenVoicingChildren:
** Elsie Fisher as Agnes, and Dana Gaier as Edith.
** The same goes in the Japanese dub with Agnes, as she was voiced by Creator/ManaAshida, aka [[Film/PacificRim young Mako Mori]].
* CompletelyDifferentTitle:
** Japanese -> 怪盗グルーの月泥棒 (Phantom Thief Gru's Moon Heist)
** Polish -> "Jak Ukraść Księżyc" (How To Steal The Moon)
** Vietnamese -> "Kẻ cắp mặt trăng" (The Moon Thief)
** Spanish -> "Mi Villano Favorito" (My Favourite Villain)
* DawsonCasting:
** Creator/SteveCarell as young Gru.
** 17-year-old Miranda Cosgrove as Margo (who WordOfGod later confirmed to be 12).
* {{Defictionalization}}:
** The Sleepy Kittens book [[http://www.amazon.com/Sleepy-Kittens-Despicable-Cinco-Paul/dp/031608381X/ref=pd_bxgy_m_img_b can now be found on Amazon]]. Doesn't come with the little brush though.
** Stuffed unicorns like the one Agnes gets at the carnival can be found at Universal Studios, and various other amusement parks.
* DuelingMovies: With ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' from (of course) [[Creator/DreamWorksAnimation Dreamworks]].
* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/WillArnett gained weight for the role of Mr. Perkins, because since he was playing a large, heavy-set man, he thought it would improve his voicework.
* EditedForSyndication: When the movie airs on television networks such as Creator/DiscoveryFamily, ''Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'' and Creator/{{Freeform}}, the scene where the girls play a carnival game to win Agnes her unicorn is shortened, skipping the entire first attempt and going right to the part where Agnes hits the spaceship but doesn't knock it down. Additionally, they skip the balloon animal part of Gru's EstablishingCharacterMoment and instead start the scene at Gru using the freeze ray at the coffee shop.
* MissingTrailerScene: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvXMWcUhKMY#t=1m37s The scene where the kid whose balloon Gru popped]] in the beginning of the [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe first film]] comes back to exact revenge on him, with his friends to back him up, and the limp balloon still on his face... yeah, that wasn't in the finished film.
** Also, when Vector demonstrates his new Squid Launcher to [[spoiler: his dad]] we see the squid landing on someone in the lobby below. In the actual movie, we only hear the guy’s reaction.
* TheOtherDarrin: Creator/SteveCarell still voices Gru in the video game, but Dr. Nefario and Vector are both voiced by JB Blanc and Jason Harris.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** According to the DVD extras, Creator/JulieAndrews was chosen as Mrs. Gru ''specifically'' because, of all well-known actresses, she was the ''least'' suitable person to play an evil old woman -- so choosing her to do so invoked the RuleOfFunny. (She refused the part at first, but was persuaded.)
** In the first film, Creator/KristenWiig voices the cruel, child-hating Miss Hattie, who contrasts severely with her more good natured and comedic characters. This stands out even more since in the sequels Wiig plays Lucy Wilde, who is much more in line with her usual typecast.
* ReferencedBy: In the ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' episode "What We Owe to Each Other", Michael wins a stuffed minion from a claw machine. He calls it an ugly yellow toddler, but thinks it's one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen.
* SleeperHit: The first film was the first CGI animated film by Universal, and it was the second highest grossing animated film that year. Then the sequels came out and turned the series into a CashCowFranchise.
* ViralMarketing: Creator/{{NBC}} is absolutely determined that you remember the title of this film. The judges of ''Last Comic Standing'' ended up going into mass SarcasmMode after the advertising department forced them to "audition" someone in a minion suit. [[LampshadeHanging ("Nice job, whores.")]] The NBC logo also shows up prominently near the start of the film - Gru stole the Jumbotron from Times Square.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Behold, [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3f/07/11/3f07116a86bdae84f532b30f3a216e63.jpg concept art for the Minions]]. Among the various concepts for them, the Minions were considered as short, big-nosed men in overalls, robots, and lumpy mutant-looking creatures before settling on something resembling their current design.
** Despicable Me has its orgins in 2008. At the time, it was originally titled ''Evil Me''. This [[https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/humble-roots-mega-hit-franchise-despicable-153709.html article]] features a pitch bible to Universal and Illumination that is drawn by Sergio Pablos. The early drafts are similar to the final film except for a few different things:
*** Gru had a more ObviouslyEvil design with a Literature/{{Dracula}}-esque appearance.
*** The girls had younger designs, looking more like three-year-olds.
*** There was going to be superheroes and Gru would've been the traditional villain.
*** Before Mr. Perkins was created, Gru would've made a deal with the entire goverment to steal the moon.
*** There was no Dr. Nefario.
*** And last but not least, the Minions were going to be mythology and monster villains such as Frankenstein's Monster and Medusa, and originally they were going to be the minions of Gru.
** The feature commentary reveals a few as well:
*** Kyle was originally the name of Gru's [[TheIgor Igor-like]] human assistant, while his "dog" was named "Kragul". The dog also was able to speak at one point in development.
*** The opening scene was originally Gru making breakfast with all of the implements of evil in his kitchen.
*** The minions' trip to the store was originally much longer, with them doing things like foiling a robbery, winning some money, and buying a car. The crew also played around with the idea of said minions coming back from their trip to save the day in the end, or not reappear at all until the credits.
*** Early on, Vector's shark belonged to Gru and was a shark-rhino hybrid.
*** The crew briefly talked about making Vector's base turn into a giant robot in the climax.
* TheWikiRule: [[http://despicableme.wikia.com/wiki/Despicable_Me_Wiki Here]] is the wikia for the movie franchise.
* WordOfGod:
** The minions are genetically engineered corn kernels. The "genetically-engineered" part of that description, however, might have been retconned, judging by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minions_%28film%29#Plot the backstory]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}''.
** Gru's first name is Felonious and his birthday is September 28, 1960 (making him two years older than his voice actor, Creator/SteveCarell).
** Margo, Edith, and Agnes aren't biologically related to each other. But they always hang out with each other and consider one another as sisters.
* WorkingTitle: The film's original title was ''Evil Me'', but was changes so as [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents not to reflect]] then-president UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's controversial statement about Iran, which he called the "axis of evil."
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* TalkingToHimself:
** In the European Spanish version, actor and humorist Florentino Fernández voices Gru and Gru's mother.
** Pierre Coffin as the minions Bob, Mark, Phil, Stuart and Tim.

* AllStarCast: So much so that the teaser trailer devotes 10 seconds just for the roll call of names; including Creator/SteveCarell, Creator/JasonSegel, Creator/MirandaCosgrove, Creator/RussellBrand, Creator/KristenWiig, Creator/WillArnett and Creator/DannyMcBride. Unique for an animated film with this depth of talent, however, just about all of the actors put on various accents to emphasize their characters as opposed to using their normal voices.