Watch order guide · Despicable Me

How to watch the Despicable Me movies in order

Updated October 21, 2026 · 8 min read · 7 titles · 11 hours

Watch Despicable Me in release order: Despicable Me (2010), Despicable Me 2, Minions, Despicable Me 3, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Despicable Me 4 (2024) and Minions & Monsters (2026). In story order the Minions films come first: Minions & Monsters is set in 1927, Minions in 1968 and The Rise of Gru in 1976.

Titles

7

Films

7

Watch time

11 hours

Box office

$6.15 billion

Avg IMDb

6.7

Despicable Me movies in release order

Here is every Despicable Me title in the order it came out, 2010 to 2026: 7 films.

Despicable Me timeline: movies in chronological order

The same titles in story order, by when they take place, with the year or era each one is set in.

Release or chronological: which order is best?

Release order and story order disagree on 7 titles here. In release order you start with Despicable Me (2010); in story order you start with Minions & Monsters, set in Hollywood, 1927, which came out 16 years later.

First time through, watch in release order. That is how the twists, returning characters and callbacks were built to land, and later entries assume you have seen the earlier ones. On a rewatch, try story order. It turns Despicable Me into one continuous story and makes the prequels play as setup instead of backstory.

Where to start

Every Despicable Me movie, explained

One entry per title in release order: what it is about, why it matters to the bigger story, who is in it and how it did.

No. 01 · 2010 · Film · 1h 35m · 4th in story order

Despicable Me

Determined to prove he's the world's greatest supervillain, Gru hatches an audacious plan to steal the Moon. To pull it off, he adopts three orphaned girls—Margo, Edith, and Agnes—intending to use them as pawns in his scheme. But the unexpected bond they form forces him to question the criminal life he's always known.

Why it matters: Gru adopts Margo, Edith and Agnes; the place to start.

Starring

Steve Carell, Jason Segel, and Russell Brand

Director

Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin

Box office

$543 million on a $69 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.6 · Rotten Tomatoes 80%

No. 02 · 2013 · Film · 1h 38m · 5th in story order

Despicable Me 2

Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super criminal.

Why it matters: Gru joins the Anti-Villain League.

Starring

Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and Benjamin Bratt

Director

Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin

Box office

$971 million on a $76 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.3 · Rotten Tomatoes 75%

No. 03 · 2015 · Film · 1h 31m · 2nd in story order

Minions

Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.

Why it matters: The Minions' history up to 1968; a prequel.

Starring

Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, and Michael Keaton

Director

Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin

Box office

$1.16 billion on a $74 million budget

Scores

IMDb 6.4 · Rotten Tomatoes 55%

No. 04 · 2017 · Film · 1h 30m · 6th in story order

Despicable Me 3

Gru and his wife Lucy must stop former '80s child star Balthazar Bratt from achieving world domination.

Why it matters: Gru's twin brother Dru.

Starring

Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and Trey Parker

Director

Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin

Box office

$1.03 billion on a $80 million budget

Scores

IMDb 6.3 · Rotten Tomatoes 58%

No. 05 · 2022 · Film · 1h 27m · 3rd in story order

Minions: The Rise of Gru

A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them, with the backup of his followers, the Minions.

Why it matters: A young Gru in 1976.

Starring

Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, and Alan Arkin

Director

Kyle Balda

Box office

$940 million on a $85 million budget

Scores

IMDb 6.5 · Rotten Tomatoes 70%

No. 06 · 2024 · Film · 1h 34m · 7th in story order

Despicable Me 4

Gru and Lucy and their girls—Margo, Edith and Agnes—welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru also faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina, forcing the family to go on the run.

Why it matters: Gru Jr. and a family in hiding.

Starring

Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and Will Ferrell

Director

Chris Renaud

Box office

$972 million on a $100 million budget

Scores

IMDb 6.2 · Rotten Tomatoes 56%

No. 07 · 2026 · Film · 1h 30m · 1st in story order

Minions & Monsters

This is the rambunctious, ridiculous and totally true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and then banded together to try and save the planet from the mayhem they had just created.

Why it matters: A different Minion tribe becomes silent-film stars in 1927 Hollywood, then summons real monsters for a movie.

Starring

Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, and Christoph Waltz

Director

Pierre Coffin

Box office

$526 million on a $85 million budget

Scores

IMDb 6.3 · Rotten Tomatoes 89%

Despicable Me box office and budgets

The 7 Despicable Me films with reported numbers have grossed $6.15 billion worldwide on about $569 million in combined budgets, roughly 11 times what they cost. The biggest is Minions at $1.16 billion, 19% of the franchise's total on its own, followed by Despicable Me 3 ($1.03 billion) and Despicable Me 4 ($972 million).

Measured against what it cost, the best return belongs to Minions, which made 16 times its $74 million budget. The weakest was Minions & Monsters at 6.2 times its $85 million budget. As a rule of thumb, a film needs about two and a half times its budget at the box office to cover marketing and the theaters' cut.

The best and worst rated Despicable Me movies

Across 7 rated titles, Despicable Me averages 6.7 on IMDb. The top of the list is Despicable Me at 7.6, then Despicable Me 2 (7.3) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (6.5). At the bottom: Despicable Me 4 (6.2) and Minions & Monsters (6.3). Money and quality don't line up perfectly: the highest grosser, Minions, is only the 4th best rated.

1. Despicable Me7.6 · RT 80%
2. Despicable Me 27.3 · RT 75%
3. Minions: The Rise of Gru6.5 · RT 70%
4. Minions6.4 · RT 55%
5. Despicable Me 36.3 · RT 58%
6. Minions & Monsters6.3 · RT 89%
7. Despicable Me 46.2 · RT 56%

Who appears in the most Despicable Me movies

Steve Carell leads with 6 appearances as Gru and Young Gru, ahead of Pierre Coffin (6) and Kristen Wiig (4). Counted from each title's top-billed cast.

Despicable Me directors and creators

3 filmmakers have directed or created Despicable Me; Pierre Coffin has the most, with 5.

• Pierre CoffinDespicable Me (2010), Despicable Me 2 (2013), Minions (2015), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Minions & Monsters (2026)
• Chris RenaudDespicable Me (2010), Despicable Me 2 (2013), and Despicable Me 4 (2024)
• Kyle BaldaMinions (2015), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

How long it takes to watch every Despicable Me movie

All 7 titles add up to 11 hours. That is about 6 two-hour evenings, or 2 days of ten-hour binges. The longest film is Despicable Me 2 at 1h 38m.

Common questions

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