Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of animation house Illumination Studios (“Sing,” “Despicable Me”), appeared at a CineEurope event on Monday where he talked with Variety about the future of his company and film exhibition.
Illumination is set to release “Minions: The Rise of Gru” in theaters on July 1st, a theatrical rollout delayed by two years due to the pandemic. He says his company has a “committed strategy to movies as a cinema-going experience” and so will put theatrical releases first.
That said, he’s aware the “world has changed” and his company was “going to have to evolve” which suggests Illumination will ramp up its output to create content for streamers – specifically Peacock which he says he’s “thrilled to be part of building”.
He was then asked about two minor controversies. One was about rival Pixar’s inclusion of a same-sex kiss scene in “Lightyear” which led to the film being banned in several parts of the world. Would Illumination risk shutting itself out of some markets to include riskier content?
“It’s not been something that has come up on our past films. There are topics of conversation right now that are very relevant to what we’re doing in the future that get into areas that potentially might not please everybody. [It’s about] honoring the stories that you tell, honoring the choices that your filmmakers make.”
More direct a controversy for Illumination has been the hiring of the very not-Italian Chris Pratt to play Mario in the upcoming “Super Mario Bros.” movie. The casting choice has been disputed online but Meledandri, who himself has Italian American heritage, says he was able to make that decision without worrying about offending Italians or Italian Americans:
“Chris was cast because we felt he could give a great performance as Mario. And now that we’ve done about 15 recording sessions, and the movie is three-quarters done, I sit here and say that I love his performance as Mario …I think we’re gonna be just fine. Especially because (Pratt) he’s given such a strong performance.”
Illumination’s “Super Mario Bros.” film is due to hit theaters on April 7th in North America.
