35 Despicable Me Facts You Will Love About The Animated Movie

The 'Despicable Me' movies are a series that amuses both kids and adults.

The movie narrates the story of three characters Gru, Margo, and Agnes. The movie grossed $1 billion in the United States.

Read some amazing 'Despicable Me' facts about the movie series, its characters, and more here.

Facts About 'Despicable Me'

The movie grossed $543 million in the United States and $582 million internationally, giving it a total gross of $1.1 billion.

The movies' directors, Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud voiced the Minions. The language that the Minions speak includes words from English, French, Italian, and Spanish, as well as a few extra elements of Korean and Russian.

Felonius Gru (his full name) has a crew of Minions that number somewhere around 58.

The Minions were created on the planet Mess, and share a master-slave relationship with evil villain Gru.

The first movie ends with Gru and his wife turning their home into a more comfortable and appropriate place for the little girls to stay, however, the camera pans out to reveal famous paintings that Gru has stolen.

Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' can be seen upon the wall whereas Van Gogh’s 'Starry Night' is propped against it on the floor.

After bananas played such a large role in the story of 'Despicable Me', Chiquita took their branding to new highs by printing more than a billion stickers to promote the release of the sequel.

Three Minions were designed to resemble Gru's daughters. This was done as a bit of foreshadowing for what is going to happen years later when Gru inherits the position as the new leader of their species, at which point he is given a family as part of his reward.

Originally, Al Pacino had been cast to voice Eduardo but then he unexpectedly dropped out and was replaced by Benjamin Bratt.

When Lucy gives Gru his daughter's phone number it is visible as 626-584-5723. For months, when you would call that number, you would reach a recording of Kristen Wiig, who voiced Lucy Wilde in the film, in the character, reading an outgoing voice mail message.

Not only did Pierre Coffin direct the massively successful Minions movie, but he also voiced all 899 of them.

Minions are small, yellow creatures that first came into existence after single-celled organisms evolved over time. They've existed since the beginning of time. Minions live only to serve their most evil masters, but they accidentally end up killing all their masters including a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a caveman, a pharaoh, and Count Dracula.

Easter Eggs In 'Despicable Me'

It's Easter and who doesn't love Easter eggs? Have you seen 'Despicable Me'?

It's the third most-watched animated film of all time after 'Frozen' and 'The Lion King'. It's not only fun but it's also packed with Easter eggs.

It's a fun game to guess what movie or T.V. show the Easter eggs refer to.

You may recall Margo wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Dr. Seuss' popular character, The Lorax, in the first film.

She wore a shirt with Wangan-Kun from 'Bayside Shakedown' in 'Despicable Me 2' to commemorate the firm's recent contract with the film's producing company, Fuji Television.

Her t-shirt in 'Despicable Me 3' featured a Grinch motif as a reference to the upcoming animated adaptation of 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'.

Gru, Lucy, and a couple of Minions are seen hunting Balthazar Bratt in submarines in one scene. The clownfish they depose resemble Nemo and Marin, the iconic father-son combination from Pixar's 'Finding Nemo' and 'Finding Dory' films.

'Despicable Me 3' also has references to 'Sing', another Illumination film. One of them is when the Minions break into a Hollywood studio lot and come across the set of a talent competition show called 'Sing'.

Minions’ song and dance routines on the big screen resemble numbers Elvis Presley pulled off in 'Jailhouse Rock', as well as some snappy side-walking routines you might have seen when watching 'West Side Story'.

Many of the scenery shots involved in Bratt’s attacks on L.A. resemble the '50 Foot Woman'.

Villain-Con seems like any usual con with a set of booths for indie and big-name game developers. It reminds us of another event that attracts thousands of people, the San Diego Comic-Con.

Facts About The Characters

Who would have thought an animated movie could make such a big impact on the entertainment industry?

However, that's exactly what happened when 'Despicable Me' was released in 2009. The movie made a good splash on the box office and the characters have been a favorite of kids and adults alike.

Many people have wondered what makes these 'Despicable Me' characters so fascinating. Read some facts about them here.

The main protagonist's name is Gru which has a special meaning to it. In Russian, 'Spy' means 'Gru'. Gru is also an acronym for Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye (Main Intelligence Directorate), a foreign military intelligence directorate of the Russian Armed Forces.

The kid who blows up his teddy bear at the beginning of 'Minions' is the very same child who pops his jelly-filled bubble gumball in 'Despicable Me 2'.

Dru’s (Gru's twin brother) voice was reportedly born from a moment when Carell was enjoying himself in the studio. He had a feeling that the voice would be perfect for Gru's twin brother.

Producer Chris Meledandri wanted to only cast actors who could improvise comedy lines for the movie 'Despicable Me' such as Steve Carell, who plays Gru and fellow actor Russell Brand, who played Dr. Nefario.

Gru looks like an Emperor penguin, which we all know is the penguin who takes care of his children.

Elsie Fisher's (Agnes) father would tickle her to make her laugh during recordings.

Will Arnett, who plays Mr. Perkins in the movie, gained weight to sound like a heavy man.

The minion species was primarily inspired by the Oompa-Loompas from the 1971 film 'Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory'.

Minion Mel, who leads the rebellion against Gru, has a look inspired by Meledandri.

Elsie Fisher, the voice actress for Agnes, was replaced after the second movie by Nev Scharrel due to her getting too old for the role.

Dr. Nafario was in a flashback but he remained silent which made 'Despicable Me 3' the first movie to not feature Russell Brand voicing the character.

Marlena Gru (Gru's mother) is Robert Gru's ex-wife, the adoptive paternal grandmother of Agnes, Edith, and Margo, and Lucy Wilde's mother-in-law.

Minions are comparable to some of the greatest physical comedy geniuses of movie history, including Charlie Chaplin and Peter Sellers.

There are 10,400 Minions in total. Vocal talents for each character were chosen considerably.

Minions love bananas and apples, they call them 'bapples', and the mere sight of one of these fruits can lead to complete chaos.

The Meaning Behind 'Despicable Me'

The movie has done extremely well at the box office and the story has received a positive response from the audience.

The story is about three superheroes and a villain who does not want to be one but have you ever wondered why the makers of this movie named it 'Despicable Me'?

It was also Universal Pictures' first fully animated theatrical flick to be rated PG by the MPAA; all of Universal's previous fully animated theatrical films were rated G.

If you characterize someone or something as despicable, you are emphasizing that they are extremely nasty, cruel, or evil, hence, the name 'Despicable Me' as Gru and his Minions are supposed to be evil.

During the 2010s, global pop culture was conquered by the Minions.

Now that you know some interesting and fun facts about the movie 'Despicable Me', you can share them with your friends and other movie lovers around. We know that you can make the most of your movie nights with a marathon of the 'Despicable Me' movies.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your popcorn and get ready to watch a great movie with your family when you watch 'Despicable Me'.