Chris meledandri chris wedge series#

Illumination released a film version of Dr.

Meledandri built a good relationship with chairman of NBCUniversal Stephen Burke, who liked Meledandri's propensity for producing animated films on a relatively low budget. In 2010, Illumination released its first film, Despicable Me, which became successful. Meledandri received a share of Illumination's box office earnings as part of his contract with Universal, and as of 2011, he also owned an undisclosed stake in the production company. Fox had attempted to retain Meledandri, but it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Universal's offer of an ownership stake in Illumination had persuaded him to switch. Meledandri left as President of 20th Century Fox Animation in early 2007, being replaced by Vanessa Morrison, and founded Illumination, an animated film production company that was co-owned by Universal Pictures, which fully financed and owned the films. He also produced two animated shorts, Gone Nutty (2002) and No Time for Nuts (2006), both were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. While at the studio, Meledandri supervised and/or executive produced films including Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Dr. He oversaw the creative and business operations of Blue Sky, which became wholly owned by Fox. In 1998, Meledandri led Fox's acquisition of fledgling visual effects house Blue Sky Studios, which became a commercially successful production studio. (2000), a costly box office bomb whose failure almost caused him to be fired, and which caused Fox Animation Studios to be shut down. One of the first films released under Meledandri's tutelage was the animated science fiction film Titan A.E.

Chris meledandri chris wedge series#

After a series of collaborations with filmmaker John Hughes, Meledandri was placed in charge of 20th Century Fox Animation. Soon after Meledandri was hired by 20th Century Fox, where executives presumed that the success of Cool Runnings showcased Meledandri's ability to produce financially successful family films. Meledandri afterwards was the producer for a series of small films, before working as a producer for the 1993 Disney film Cool Runnings, which was a financial success. He co-founded the production company The Meledandri/Gordon Company (with Mark Gordon) until he left in 1991.

Meledandri's first job in the film industry came when he worked as an assistant to executive producer Daniel Melnick on the set of Footloose.

He is of Italian descent, and attended Dartmouth College. Meledandri was born in New York City to Roland Meledandri, a men's fashion designer, and Risha Meledandri, an activist, growing up in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In 2021, he joined Nintendo's board of directors after working with the video game company on The Super Mario Bros. He previously served as President of 20th Century Animation, and has worked as the producer for the film series of Ice Age, Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets and Sing. Christopher Meledandri ( / m ɛ l ɛ ˈ d ɑː n d r i/ born May 15, 1959) is an American film producer and founder and CEO of Illumination.