The Orphan Girls

The Orphan Girls is a 2023 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the third spin-off prequel and the sixth installment of the Despicable Me franchise. The film stars Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel, Timothée Chalamet, Jonah Hill, Keith David, Ellie Kemper, Rainn Wilson, and Kristen Wiig.

Synopsis
Set before the events of Despicable Me, the film follows the three well-known orphan girls named Margo, Edith, and Agnes. When they notice a highly dangerous criminal, they'll need to stop him without letting anyone know what's about to happen.

Cast
TBA.
 * Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, a 10-year-old orphan.
 * Dana Gaier as Edith, an 8-year-old orphan.
 * Nev Scharrel as Agnes, a 5-year-old orphan.
 * Keith David as Dr. N, a dangerous criminal wanted by many police forces.
 * Timothée Chalamet as Ryan, a 12-year-old boy who knows very well about Dr. N.
 * Jonah Hill as Mr. Will, an investigator from the FBI.
 * Ellie Kemper as Ms. Smith.
 * Rainn Wilson as John Levi, a police officer.
 * Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, the owner of Miss Hattie's Home for Girls.
 * Jenny Slate as TBA.
 * Steve Carell as Felonious Gru, the new father of the girls. He only appears at the end of the film.

Development
After the box-office success of Despicable Me 3, plans to develop a third prequel focusing on the girls were pitched. The film was originally going to explain how the girls were sent to the orphanage, but was scrapped. However, small elements of the story were used in the final version. Universal Pictures greenlit the film under the working title Lost Orphans.

Casting
In June 2021, Miranda Cosgrove was announced to reprise her role as Margo, following new cast members such as Keith David and Timothée Chalamet. The following week, Rainn Wilson and Ellie Kemper had joined. And then by August 2021, Jenny Slate, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel, and Steve Carell had joined.

Release
The Orphan Girls is set to release on June 30, 2023.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 211 critics, with an average rating of 5.61/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled on CinemaScore gave the film an "A" on an A+ to F scale.