High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Illumination Entertainment is an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. It has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Studios and it is based in Santa Monica, California. The company is best known for its 2010 animated feature Despicable Me, and is currently working on its sequel, Despicable Me 2 (2013), and on its spin-off (2014).