Netflix Canada greeted its subscribers with a forehead kiss and a carton of minions: Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2 and Despicable Me 3 are now streaming in the country. The service’s Canadian account announced the haul with characteristic brevity — “me giving you a little forehead kiss 💛” — and no further explanation.
For Canadian subscribers, the timing is the story. Gru’s first two outings last appeared in the Netflix Canada catalog on Feb. 7, 2025, and were pulled exactly six months later, on Aug. 7. Despicable Me 3, the billion-dollar 2017 entry, has not had a recent run on the service at all.
That third film is the heavyweight of the trio. Released June 30, 2017, Despicable Me 3 closed its worldwide run at roughly $1.03 billion — about $264.6 million of it from North America — and was the first title in the series to clear the billion-dollar threshold.
It is, however, not the franchise’s top earner. The 2015 spinoff Minions still holds that title at $1.15 billion, according to franchise tallies. Across four Despicable Me films and two Minions spinoffs, Illumination’s yellow-henchmen empire has grossed more than $5 billion, the highest total for any animated franchise, with DreamWorks’ Shrek series ($2.96 billion) next in line.
Geography helps explain why Canada gets them. Universal’s pay-one streaming deal routes Illumination titles to Peacock in the U.S., where the first two Despicable Me films exited Netflix on Feb. 1. Peacock does not operate north of the border, so older Universal library titles have instead cycled through Netflix Canada.
They perform there. During the films’ previous Canadian window, the week of Feb. 17–23, Despicable Me 3 ranked third on Netflix’s global film chart with 7.9 million views, with Minions, Despicable Me 2 and the 2010 original all landing in the top 10 — about 23.9 million views across the franchise in seven days.
Netflix Canada has not said how long this window stays open.
Last time, six months was the deal. Long enough for a kiss on the forehead; short enough that nobody should dawdle.
