Despicable Me & Minions

[Daniel]

The sequel now has a title, Minions: The Rise of Gru. I like it!

[droosan]

Shouldn't we have seen Dr. Nefario Awakens .. then The Last Minion .. and then The Rise of Gru..?

[Randall]

Ho ho!

I do a actually like the sound of this one. Disposable entertainment for sure, but I like these films alright for what they are.

[EricJ]

The sequel now has a title, Minions: The Rise of Gru. I like it!

Since DM3 tanked, I'm guessing Illuminations is putting its affairs in order and doing the penultimate "Origin prequel" entry, following on the "Before Gru" plot from the first Minions.
The finale movie should be interesting.

[Dacey]

Yes, Eric, the movie that made $1 billion definitely "tanked."

[Ben]

DM4 is also already in production...

[Daniel]

You know, I'm surprised they haven't made a Christmas special of some sort. Think of the possibilities, not to mention tie-in merch. A few franchises have already received the treatment; Ice Age, Shrek, Madagascar, (twice if you include the penguin special) Trolls, Frozen, Toy Story, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and the list goes on...

They've teased the minions singing Christmas jingles in clips but nothing full scope... no, I don't count that short moment in the original Minion flick.

[Dacey]

So the Minions "Holiday" Special was literally nothing new. All shorts from previous DVD releases (and only one with a Christmas theme), plus commercial bumpers and old seasonal trailers used to add to the "holiday" aspect of it all. Didn't even have funny narration or anything to attempt to string it all together.

Of course Covid has meant a decrease in new content this year, but even then, it would've made more sense for NBC to air that old Grinch documentary alongside its animated counterpart again instead of this.

[EricJ]

DreamWorks also has a history of just dumping spare bonus content from discs and other media and calling it a "special"--
One of their "Spooky Stories" on their Netflix Halloween specials is no less than the movie from the Universal Studios theme-park attraction, while one of the collection of "additional stories" for HTTYDragon is, in fact, the backstory intro sequence to the video game.

Let's be honest, other studios just don't understand the Disney/Pixar work-ethic of making new stuff for network specials.

Of course Covid has meant a decrease in new content this year, but even then, it would've made more sense for NBC to air that old Grinch documentary alongside its animated counterpart again instead of this.

(Except that both are owned by Warner.)

[Dacey]

Where should I start? By mentioning that DreamWorks Animation has made more fully animated network holiday specials than Disney and Pixar combined since Shrek the Halls, or by pointing out that The Grinch was literally shown on NBC last night.

[Daniel]

What, and let facts get in the way of a stream of consciousness?

[Otis8]

Universal Studios movie?

[Daniel]

The Ghost of Lord Farquaad clocks in at 12 minutes. Not a movie and hardly a short. Very cool, though!

[Ben]

It’s the footage that was shown in the Shrek 4D ride at the Universal theme parks. It got its own release as a repurposed short film on DVD before being absorbed into DWA's collection of specials and shorts.

[Daniel]

Rise of Gru delayed again. Will now open July 1, 2022. Dang.