Illumination

Illumination Entertainment is an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 after he left his post as President of Fox Animation Studios in early 2007.

By 2008, a deal was announced positioning Illumination as NBC Universal’s family entertainment arm that would produce one to two films a year starting in 2010. It is co-owned by Universal, who exclusively distributes the films, but Illumination retains creative control as an independent production company.

Illumination’s world headquarters and main production office is based in Santa Monica, California. The company subscribes to a philosophy of global film making and contracts independent studios all over the world on a film-by-film basis. It also maintains offices on the Universal Studios lot in CA and at Illumination Mac Guff in Paris, France (animation/production).