Universal Animation

Universal Animation Studios, formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios, is an American animation studio that is a subsidiary of Comcast's NBCUniversal and a division of Universal Pictures. It has produced sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as The Land Before Time, An American Tail, Balto, as well as other films and television series.

The actual animation production is done overseas, usually by either Wang Film Productions or Rough Draft Studios, while pre-production and post-production is United States-based.

On August 22, 2016, the television animation divisions of Universal and DreamWorks merged after Universal completed its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation.

Illumination (formerly named Illumination Entertainment) is an American film and animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007 and owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. Meledandri produces the films, while Universal finances and distributes all the films. The studio is responsible for the Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets franchises and the film adaptations of Dr. Seuss’ books The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the studio's mascots.

Illumination has produced 10 feature films, with its latest release being The Secret Life of Pets 2, with an average gross of $695.4 million per film. The studio's highest-grossing films are Minions, which has grossed $1.159 billion worldwide, Despicable Me 3, $1.034 billion and Despicable Me 2, $970.8 million. All three are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and six of their films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films.

So What if Universal Animation Studios and Illumination Merged in 2022? Let's see the changes.

Changes

 * Let's Start with the Logos. The Minions won't just be there, characters from UAS (reanimated in 3D) and Illuimation would be in the logo along with Minions, like Littlefoot (in his Land After Time form).
 * The logo won't simpily have the white LED-light text "ILLUMINATION". Instead, the print 2006 Universal Animation Studios logo (though "ANIMATION STUDIOS" is in the same style and font as the Illumination text, the logo is from 2012 and there's a spotlight above the I in "UNIVERSAL" just like TSLOP variant and with the Comcast byline).
 * The 2010-2022 logos would be changed to feature the UAS logo from above instead. Plus, it would follow the 1997/2012 Universal logos and plaster the old logo at the end of the movies.
 * The last movie with the previous logo is Minions: The Rise of Gru. The first movie with the current is Super Mario Bros.
 * OK, now for the problems which we cannot mention right now.

Theatrical Films

 * An American Tail
 * The Land Before Time
 * An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
 * The Tale of Despereaux
 * Despicable Me
 * Hop
 * The Lorax
 * Despicable Me 2
 * Minions
 * The Secret Life of Pets
 * Sing
 * Woody Woodpecker
 * Despicable Me 3
 * The Grinch
 * The Secret Life of Pets 2
 * Sing 2
 * Minions: The Rise of Gru (final movie with 2017 logo)
 * Super Mario Bros. (first movie with 2022 logo)
 * The Land After Time
 * Despicable Me 4
 * The Legend of Zelda

Direct-to-Video
U : Extinct


 * The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure
 * The Land Before Time III: Time of the Great Giving
 * The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists
 * The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island
 * Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus
 * The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock
 * Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (now owned by Disney/TCS)
 * An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
 * An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster
 * Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman (now owned by Disney/TCS)
 * The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire
 * The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze
 * Balto II: Wolf Quest
 * The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water
 * Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (now owned by Paramount/Nickelodeon)
 * The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration
 * Van Helsing: The London Assignment
 * The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
 * The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses
 * Balto III: Wings of Change
 * The Adventures of Brer Rabbit
 * The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers
 * The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends
 * Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey
 * The Little Engine that Could
 * Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle
 * The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave
 * Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You
 * Curious George: Royal Monkey
 * Curious George: Go West, Go Wild
 * Curious George: Gamer Monkey (first direct-to-video film with the 2022 logo)

Shorts
Bold means theatrical release, Italic means TV release


 * Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, the Box, & the Lox
 * Home Makeover
 * Banana
 * Brad and Gary
 * Phil's Dance Party
 * Wagon Ho!
 * Forces of Nature
 * Serenade
 * Puppy
 * Panic in the Mailroom
 * Training Wheels
 * Cro Minion
 * Competition
 * Binky Nelson Unpacified
 * Mower Minions
 * Norman Television
 * Weenie
 * Gunter Babysits
 * Love at First Sight
 * Eddie's Life Coach
 * The Secret Life of Kyle
 * Yellow is the New Black
 * The Dog Days of Winter
 * Santa's Little Helpers
 * Super Gidget
 * Minion Scouts
 * Minion and Monsters
 * Goomba Overload!
 * The Big City Incident

Logo Variants

 * Despicable Me: From the right side of the screen, on a dark background, a short, one-eyed minion peeks out from the right side of the screen, anxiously greeting the audience. Then, all of a sudden, the text fades in quickly behind him, and glows, syncing with the music. This causes him to get frightened, who struggles to frantically run around, stands, suddenly falls over and exits the screen to the right. This variant would introduce the text, which first appears shining bright.
 * Hop and Phil's Dance Party: The text is behind the minion in the center. After the little while, one minion wearing bunny ears and a cotton bunny tail is prancing in from the left to the right while carrying an Easter basket and tossing confetti, while a minion in the center observes in confusion. The bunny one shows off his costume, but the other is not amused.
 * Dr. Seuss' The Lorax: The text is behind a Truffula tree (with the tree covering part of the text) and two minions. One starts up a chainsaw, and begins to cut down the tree. Suddenly, the tree shakes and a bear, which is eating Truffula berries, drops in, smashing him, A bear resumes eating them, as the other slowly backs away nervously.
 * Despicable Me 2: The text, which glows slightly at one point, is behind two minions. The one-eyed one sings "TA-DAAA!", then the two-eyed one shoves him aside and also sings "TA-DAAA!". The one-eyed one then shoves him and sings "TA-DAAA!" once again, and then they then start yelling "TA-DAAA!" at each other and start fighting until the one-eyed one shoves the other off-screen, and triumphantly yells "TA-DAAA!". He then chimes "TA-DAA!", causing the other to mumble in frustration while glancing out at the audience.
 * Minions: The text is behind five minions in the center. The others watch the center one, which is continuing to sing the holding note from the fanfare of the preceeding Universal Pictures logo. He finally runs out of breath and falls flat on his face, then weakly holds out a hand for the others to lift him up, but quickly puts it back down as the others exchange glances.
 * The Secret Life of Pets (prototype, newer prints): Stuart the Minion is seen teasing a Beagle puppy by pretending to throw a squeaky ball. He continues until a group of dogs (consisting of a Scottish Terrier, a Dachshund, a Boston Terrier, a Dalmatian and a German Shepherd) comes in, and the German Shepherd catches the minion in the act with a bark. Realizing that he's in big trouble, Stuart then throws the ball, allowing the puppy to chase it, but nevertheless the dogs chase him offscreen. A few seconds later, a chihuahua is seen chasing after them.
 * Despicable Me 2 (NBC airing), The Secret Life of Pets (but newer prints) and newer prints of old Universal Animation Studios movies: Bob the Minion walks in from the right, scatting a tune. After a little while, the text  "MIN" and "ION" turns on and flickers briefly, while the light above the "I" in "MIN" glows in. The rest of the text, "ILLU" and "AT" in "ILLUMINATION", along with "ENTERTAINMENT", turn on the same way as "MIN" and "ION". Bob gets excited, shouts "Illumination!" twice, and squees.
 * Sing and Sing 2: Four minions are seen. Kevin blows a harmonica then sings some "La" notes. Then, he sings "Illumination" then Stuart and Mel join as the chorus, whilst raising their arms in the air. Bob then screams the name with a crazy look, and holds it for so long, that the "MIN" and "ION" in "ILLUMINATION" lose power and turn off. He stops and looks at the text. He looks at the screen, and says "whoops!" as the other minions stare in disappointment. Sing is the final film that features "Entertainment" in the logo, while Sing 2 removes "Entertainment" from the logo.
 * Despicable Me 3: Three minions are seen, with Kevin holding a script, Stuart holding a flower in a vase and Mel holding a wooden hammer. Kevin clears his throat and tries to say "Illumination", but Stuart knocks him out with a vase. He tries to do the same, but Mel hits him with a hammer. Bob comes by with the fart gun (from the first two movies). The minion successfully says the name, and then questions the fart gun, to which Bob sprays gas (which is green as opposed to brown). Mel faints in disgust. Bob then says "ILLUMINATION!" like in the version from The Secret Life of Pets, and chuckles. A fainted Mel then farts on Bob and he shakes his hand in disgust. Starting with this film, the word "Entertainment" is omitted.
 * Dr. Seuss' The Grinch: Unlike other versions, it abruptly cuts in from black. Bob is on the right side of the screen, holding a sparkler, and says "Illumination!". Snowball the rabbit, from The Secret Life of Pets (voiced by Kevin Hart) drops down from the top of the screen and yells "Yeah, ILLUMINATION!", and pyrotechnics suddenly spray over the logo's "stage", burning Bob's feet. Then water sprinklers turn on, dousing the flames and covering Snowball in water. Bob gives his sparkler to Snowball, and the logo's text brightens up the screen to start the movie.﻿ This is the first time since The Lorax where a different character than a Minion appears.
 * The Secret Life of Pets 2: This is the first variant to not feature Bob since Minions. A ball bounces under the logo. Then, six dogs being leashed by Stuart runs to it and he yells, "Stop-ah! Stop-ah!" at them. The minion anxiously looks at the audience in relief and smiles, while the dogs crowd at the ball. As the ball bounces off, the dogs face the direction, and Stuart screams "Uh...Illumination!" before he gets pulled away, the dogs barking as they do.
 * Minions: The Rise of Gru: Bob is seen trying to burn down the "ILLUMINATION" text, until Stuart stops Bob from burning down the text and holds up a globe (referencing the Universal logos), spinning it and his finger lands on London, where we zoom in the globe and the movie starts. This is the 2nd variant to lead to the movie after The Grinch.
 * Super Mario Bros.: The first movie to use the 2021 Universal Animation Studios logo. Mario is trying to show Stuart his moves within Ground blocks and Goombas and Stuart enjoys it.
 * Super Mario Maker 3: Rise of Mad Maker: The Minion(s) is seen doing something depending on the day, which is mentioned in the game page.
 * Curious George: Gamer Monkey: Bob plays a game, but Foreman Spike (from Super Mario Bros.) came in and said that he wanted a turn, and replies "Yes". Foreman Spike and Bob both play the video game now. The text flashes like the Grinch version to the opening theme.
 * Newer prints of The Land Before Time I-IV and The Land After Time: This is the first variant without Minions. Littlefoot tries to eat a Treestar, until the Grinch came in and takes the Treestar, which makes Littlefoot sad. Littlefoot fights the Grinch for the Treestar until he finally grabs the Treestar and eats it. The light shines like the DM version, scaring The Grinch.
 * Despicable Me 4: Gru came in the logo, and 3 minions welcome him. Cera (from The Land Before Time) then came in and throw eggs at Gru, and one of the minions tells him to stop. Then, the text shines bright and fades to the opening (just like Grinch).
 * The Legend of Zelda: Link is teaching Cera (from Land Before Time), Luigi (from Super Mario Bros.) and Bob (from Despicable Me) Minionese, but the light shines, scaring Bob as Link contunues.

Variants

 * Sometimes, the movie versions is shortened on trailers & TV spots.
 * Sometimes, the minion(s) is absent on some trailers & TV spots.
 * On the mini movies (beginning with Mower Minions) and Trailers (starting with Despicable Me 3), the version from The Secret Life of Pets is used, already formed, and still without Bob.
 * Beginning with Sing, the text appears to now be in three-dimensional.
 * On a few trailers for their movies, the variants from its respective movies are used. (e.g. the Minions variant was used on a trailer for Sing.)
 * Starting with the second trailer for Despicable Me 3, "ILLUMINATION" is now slightly shorter in height, and "ENTERTAINMENT" is deleted.
 * Some TV spots has the flickering of the letters of "ILLUMINATION".
 * Starting with the official trailer for Super Mario Bros., the "ILLUMINATION" text is replaced with the 2006 Universal Animation Studios, with a shine dotting the I in "UNIVERSAL", "ANIMATION STUDIOS" being in the same style/font as Illumination, and with the 2012 Comcast byline from the 2012 Universal logo. Also with the 3 note fanfare, the logo would glow and sync in with the fanfare (it did that on Super Mario Bros. to the opening theme, with the expection of some movies).

Custom Promotional Variants

 * On the first two trailers for Hop, the text is already-formed and the Minion (Same as the DM version) peeks in from the right.
 * On five TV spots for Sing, there are three Minions in the center laughing. In this variation, they are edited instead of being placed and the text shines brighter.
 * On the teaser trailer for The Grinch, the text is off. Bob turns a flashlight on as if he's saying Illumination in a ghostly manner, while laughing maniacally after. The text suddenly turns on and he runs off in fear.
 * On the theatrical trailer for The Grinch, Carl blows a party horn which annoys Kevin. He notices, and when Carl blows it again, Kevin pulls it, attacking him with his elbow. The print text is seen above, then goes to the center of the screen, with Bob saying "Illumination!"
 * On the trailer and the international trailers for The Grinch and The Secret Life of Pets 2, it is the same as the variation from The Secret Life of Pets, but without "ENTERTAINMENT".
 * On the second theatrical trailer for The Grinch and the Minions Holiday Special, Bob says "Illumination" while raising his hands and sticking out his tongue to taste the falling snow, with Kevin and Stuart shaking their sleigh bells while looking depressed. Also, the minions wear their Santa hats with red overalls, and the text, even the floor, is covered in snow.
 * On the official trailer for Super Mario Bros., Bob hits a question block made from a box, hanging from a wall, but hurts his head after.

Variants of Musics

 * On the Despicable Me version and movies since The Land After Time (except Despicable Me 4), it has an orchestrated 3-note tune, similiar to Viacom's "Wigga-Wigga" logo music.
 * Trailers/TV spots had their music playing over, sometimes with sounds.
 * On the Phil's Dance Party version, the tail end of the 2012 Universal logo music is heard when it fades in.
 * On The Lorax version, the orchestra starts warming up when the logo fades out, which leads to the start of the feature.
 * The mini-movie version is silent.
 * The Despicable Me 3, Super Mario Bros., Curious George: Gamer Monkey and Despicable Me 4 versions has the movie's opening theme over it.

Avabillity
Seen on the aforementioned films. The Phil's Dance Party version is only seen on that short, which appears on the 2011 Blu-Ray of Hop, but it and the preceding Universal Pictures logo variant were cut from DVD collections containing that short. The Secret Life of Pets version debuted on the NBC broadcast of Despicable Me 2, inexplicably plastering its version. The Super Mario Bros. version can also be seen in newer Mario games since September 2022 and it's movie.

Trivia

 * The Minions would always appear in the logo, but for The Lorax, The Grinch and movies/mario-games since Super Mario Bros., a different character from a random movie will appear with the Minions. Sometimes, the Minions don't appear in the logo.