Minions in live action? For their creator, it's out of the question

“For me, personally, I don't find it very attractive. But then again, who knows what can happen.”

Mascots of Illumination Studios, the Minions, with their little denim overalls and their eyes full of silliness and mischief, won over the public from their first appearance in 2010 in Despicable Me. Real golden gooses who, with this franchise alone, have generated more than five billion dollars worldwide. Thanks to their success, these yellow pills, Gru's sidekicks, have even been given their own film series with The Minions in 2015 and Minions: Once Upon a Time Gru in 2022.

But do these animation stars have a future beyond the pencil stroke? Why not in live-action? Asked Chris Renaud, creator of Minions and co-director of the first two parts of Despicable Me as well as the latest one released earlier this year, by the magazine Movie Hounds, This question received a categorical and unequivocal answer:

“God, I hope not. That's my answer. If people were talking about it, I didn't know about it. But to me, what defines their world is that it's animated, and that allows us to do what we do with it. Like locking a Minion in a vending machine or having Gru explode when he attacks Vector. Those are very cartoony ideas, the kind of thing you'd find in Bugs Bunny.”

While on the Disney side, live-action adaptations are all the rage – since Alice in Wonderland in 2010, followed by Lion King, Cinderella, Mula, The Little Mermaid and soon Snow Whiteand even Lilo and Stitch – also an animated film that is very popular with the public – the question of following this model for the Minions arose. But for Chris Renaud, the idea seems very difficult to execute, even pointless:

“I think it would become something completely different if we did a live-action version. For me, personally, I don't find it very appealing. But then again, who knows what can happen. But that's my personal opinion.”

In the animation branch, he is not the only one to have a strong opinion on this subject. Last June, faced with the growing rumor of a live-action Ratatouille in which some fans already imagined Josh O'Connor (Challengers) in the role of the chief, Pete Docter, artistic director at Pixar, has stated that there is no question of adapting Pixar animated films into live-action. Like Chris Renaud, he believes that transposing animation into live-action would make no sense – citing Up there where a house floating in the air thanks to balloons is only credible in an animated world.

Pixar Doesn't Want Live Action Remakes of Their Animated Films

After Despicable Me 4 which has now grossed over $800 million worldwide at the box office, the Minions will be featured in a third animated film, which has already been officially announced by Illumination.

After Despicable Me 4, Minions 3 is coming in 2027