Mac Guff provided the animation for the first Despicable Me film.
Mac Guff was a Paris-based animation and visual-effects studio hired to handle the film’s computer animation. Its work helped turn Illumination’s first feature into a stylized world built around Gru, his inventions, the orphan girls, and the Minions.
The studio’s connection to the project also helped bring Pierre Coffin onto the film. Coffin had previously worked with Mac Guff and was recruited to co-direct with Chris Renaud. Coffin later became especially associated with voicing the Minions.
The film was produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures, but those companies were not the animation studio answer. Blue Sky Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Mikros Image are separate animation or visual-effects companies. Mac Guff later became closely linked with Illumination after the success of Despicable Me, including through the French production operation commonly known as Illumination Mac Guff.