Why are Minions so popular? We asked Chris Renaud, the director of Despicable Me 4

Cartoon Brewery, in partnership with our exclusive online event partner INBTWN Animation, we recently met with Chris Renaud, the director of Despicable Me 4, which Universal Pictures released today in the USA.

Renaud has been with the franchise since its inception and this is his third time directing. Despicable Me Film. At this point, there is little doubt as to whether the audience behind Despicable Me 4; the characters and franchise have become an iconic contemporary institution, loved around the world.

A big part of the franchise’s success is its supporting yellow pill-shaped characters known as Minions, so it was a natural choice to start our conversation with Renaud with these characters and their cultural influence. “Originally, they were designed as inept kids who love Gru, to make Gru appealing,” Renaud explained. “I think in our heads we hoped they would become comedic breakout characters… but how much people liked them so much was something you couldn’t have predicted in 2010.”