Illumination’s Chris Meledandri talks about ‘Minions’, streaming vs theatrical and facing the fear of failure: CineEurope

In Barcelona, ​​as part of its opening day at CineEurope, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Melendandri shed light on the future of everything. Minions: The Rise of Gru If we’re going to see same-sex kissing in the next Illumination title and how a mistake he made long ago helped his career.

During a lengthy on-stage discussion with Deadline Editor-in-Chief Mike Fleming Jr., Melendrim, whose successful studio will celebrate its 15th anniversary next year, said there was never a shipping option. promotion to grus In streaming, although it premiered at the end of June 2020, before Covid was forced to postpone it.

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Meledandri said: “There was a common opinion that we would wait for it before the audience went back to the cinema. Neither of us knew he would be two, but none of us knew. … I know where my heart is and it goes beyond whether or not a decision is the best business decision at the moment. I think the global culture of our cinema is at stake here ”.

Universal has its own streaming service, Peacock, and Meledandri said he was “thrilled” with some of its builds, “but not at the expense of movies and theaters.”

He went on to say that the Enlightenment is a “period of discovery”. The company “will have to develop. “We can have a cinematic retention strategy like the experience of going to the movies, and we can have another level of business.”

In general, is it harder to make films now than when the Enlightenment began? For Melendander, the volume of films – and not just animated ones, but those that follow the same audience – has increased. “We are in a much more competitive environment,” he said. “The ability to grab the audience’s attention and deliver enough content to get them excited about going to the theater is becoming more and more difficult. You do not receive 30 seconds via digital messages; It was a challenge, but it also evokes a new creativity. “

Fleming noted Pixar’s decision to only release gay kisses. light year, who banned it in some countries and wondered if the Enlightenment could ever represent something like this. Meledandri replied that while it wasn’t something that was in the previous films, “it will be much more relevant to our future than it is to the past. … There are currently topics of conversation that are very relevant to what we will do in the future and are included in areas that may not be to everyone’s liking. I think you have to respect the stories you tell, you have to respect the decisions your directors make and you have to be prepared not to always be happy with everything. “Universal is a special partner when it comes to these kinds of problems.”

Jeff Shelley, CEO of NBCUniversal, believes that streaming “isn’t too close to peak content,” considering Disney’s move to Doctor Strange 2 on Disney + just 47 days later.

He continued: “The moment you start using Twitter or each culture’s point of view, no matter how intolerant they may be, to guide your creative expression, I think you’re on a very slippery slope, no. Only morally, but creatively. It is impossible to follow the creative process and still understand how to make a needle that never offends anyone “.

As for the possible indignation in the future for the role of the non-Italian Chris Pratt Mario Super Mario Bros. movieMeledandri said: “When people listen to Chris Pratt’s performance, the criticism fades, perhaps not quite; people like to express their opinions at their leisure ”. He added: “I’m not sure this is the smartest defense, but as someone with an Italian American heritage, I feel I can make that decision without offending Italians or Italian Americans. … I think everything will be fine.

Speaking of the collaboration with Nintendo for this film, Melendri called it “a really important goal. Nintendo is one of the companies we respect and hold in high regard; In my opinion, this cooperation is unprecedented in its proximity ”.

Melendander made a big mistake in his past, checking costly mistakes Titan AE Launching 20th century animation. Fleming wondered what was the most valuable lesson the leader learned from that experience in terms of what not to do when creating enlightenment.

“Losing $ 100 million with Rupert Murdoch’s money is no fun,” he said. But Meledandri added that the biggest lesson was “how could I handle the consequences. An enormous fear took me. He had to make a decision, he would abandon this fear if he looked him in the face and continued. It wasn’t easy, it was one of the darkest parts of my life. “

At the start of Illumination, Meledandri said, “I had to prove myself again. What followed Titanium I was ყ Ice, Which was one of the most profitable films in the studio’s history. But leaving Fox 13 years after starting the company and starting with nothing from the beginning, I was really scared of doing it. This is really a lesson: there are some things that happen in your life that are very messy and you need to figure out how not to get angry about them.

Melendandri concluded: “The only way out is whether failure will break you or not, failure is part of the price of success, if it really is swallowing you. Full of fear. “