Despicable Me is a 2010 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. The film had many firsts, including it being the first one of the franchise of the same name, the inaugural feature from Illumination, and the directorial debuts of Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. It was produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy, and John Cohen, from a screenplay by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, based on a story by Sergio Pablos. Despicable Me stars the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Jack McBrayer, and Julie Andrews. The film follows Felonious Gru, a longtime supervillain who adopts three orphan girls to use as pawns in a villainous scheme but reluctantly develops an emotional attachment to them.

Development of Despicable Me began when Pablos pitched the idea about a main character having villainous attributes and brought the concept to Meledandri following Illumination's foundation in 2007, with Paul and Daurio writing the script. The film was officially announced in 2008, with much of its creative team attached, while animation was provided by Paris-based studio Mac Guff (now Illumination Studios Paris). Pharrell Williams and Heitor Pereira composed the film's score, with original songs written and performed by the former.

Despicable Me debuted at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 9, 2010, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 9. The film received positive reviews from critics and earned $543.2 million worldwide, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2010. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards and Annie Awards and was also the winner for Favorite Animated Movie at the 2011 Kids' Choice Awards. Despicable Me began a successful franchise which includes three sequels (Despicable Me 2 (2013), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Despicable Me 4 (2024)), and three prequels (Minions (2015), Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), and the upcoming Minions 3 (2027)).