Can We Expect a ‘Despicable Me 5’?

Despicable Me is one of the most enduring family-friendly franchises out there at the moment.

The first Despicable Me movie landed all the way back in 2010, and since then there have been plenty more films in the franchise: Despicable Me 2, Despicable Me 3, Minions, and Minions: The Rise of Gru—with another one just about to come out. Despicable Me 4 drops on July 3, 2024.

The latest movie is all about the expanding family of Gru (Steve Carell). He and his wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) have another child, Gru Jr, in addition to their three adopted daughters. But then their lives are suddenly upended when they have to enter witness protection, thanks to supervillain Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferell) and his revenge plan.

Things are looking very good for Despicable Me 4. According to Variety, the movie is likely to pull in $100 million to $125 million in its first five days. Don’t forget: Kids and adults alike love Despicable Me. And why shouldn’t they? The characters are engaging, the plots are funny, and the Minions are adorable. (Alright, perhaps opinions are more mixed on the Minions, but I myself am firmly pro-Minion.) So that begs the question—is there going to be a Despicable Me 5?

Well, considering Despicable Me is actually the highest-grossing animated film franchise of all time right now, it would be very surprising indeed if there isn’t another movie after Despicable Me 4. And there are plenty of places we could go with it. We could follow up with Gru’s brother Dru (also played by Steve Carell) who was one of the stars of Despicable Me 3. Or we could finally see Gru and Lucy’s daughters grow into teenagers and tell a story about all the difficulties (and joys, of course) of raising them. It’s a franchise with endless possibilities.

But even if we don’t get Despicable Me 5 (unlikely) the franchise has long since expanded to include shorts, video games, endless merchandise, and a presence at Universal Studios theme park. So the Minions most assuredly aren’t going anywhere.