Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American film and animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 and owned by Universal Pictures,[4][5][6] a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. Meledandri produces the movies while Universal finances and distributes all the films.[5] The studio is best known for the Despicable Me film series and has also produced the films The Secret Life of Pets and Sing.