Additionally, The Secret Life of Pets' robust, multi-faceted licensing and merchandising campaign includes global master toy licensee, Spin Master and exclusive pet product retail partner, PetSmart, along with a roster of best-in-class licensees reaching across multiple categories from interactive and video games, to children's books, apparel and accessories, consumer electronics, housewares and stationery.

About The Secret Life of Pets
For their fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures present The Secret Life of Pets, a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day.

Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, and Kevin Hart make their animated feature-film debuts in The Secret Life of Pets, which co-stars Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan, and Albert Brooks.  Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney, and written by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch.  www.thesecretlifeofpets.com

About Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007, is one of the entertainment industry's leading producers of event animated films.  Illumination, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures, is the creator of the hugely successful Despicable Me franchise, which includes Minions, the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time, as well as Despicable Me 2, an Academy Award^® nominee for Best Animated Feature of 2013.  In all, Illumination's films, which also include 2011's Hop and 2012's Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, have grossed more than $3.2 billion in worldwide box-office revenues and feature some of the world's most renowned talent. 

Upcoming films include Sing, starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton and Tori Kelly, which arrives in theaters in December 2016; Despicable Me 3, starring Steve Carell and Trey Parker, which is set for June 2017; and a newly-imagined version of Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role of The Grinch, that is set for November 2017.  In addition, Minion Rush (800 million downloads) has become one of the world's most popular apps, and Minion Mayhem attracts huge crowds at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood.

About Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures is a division of Universal Studios ( www.universalstudios.com).  Universal Studios is part of NBCUniversal.  NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.  NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group and world-renowned theme parks.  NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

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SOURCE Universal Pictures