Chris Meledandri

I don't fly by the seat of my pants. I set strategies, and then I pursue those in unrelenting fashion. ”

What I worry about the most is the competition for young eyeballs. We have so many other competing forms of media. I don't take any audience members for granted. ”

If you are not breaking rules and you are not taking risks, you are not going to end up with movies where there is discovery... and, to me, that is the magic of going into the cinema. ”

I do think we're in a period of time culturally where there is just this extraordinary connection that we have to our pets, and in many ways, they are displacing kids. They're so much simpler than dealing with a kid because of this unconditional love that does not get complicated by adolescence or any other manipulation. ”

Embrace risk. The driving force behind our economic model at Illumination Mac Guff is designed to preserve the opportunity to take risk. Subvert the expectation of the audience. Surprise them with unexpected choices. ”

You have to love Dr. Seuss to take on the responsibility of conveying his work in animation or any medium. ”

Like many people, I had the powerful experience of being raised on Dr. Seuss, then becoming a parent and revisiting him with my own children. That multigenerational experience around his work is very meaningful. ”

My early experiences in animation taught me that following someone else is not a great idea. ”

My experience is that there's absolutely a correlation between the enthusiasm within an animation studio for a given character and the enthusiasm the audience feels when seeing the movie. ”

In the 1960s, my father chose to introduce Italian-style clothing into a world that was filled with boxy Brooks Brothers suits. So if you were dressing in his clothes in New York or California, you were breaking a rule. And my mother, Risha, who is still living, has always been an activist. I don't think my mom has met a cause she doesn't like. ”