‘The Secret Life Of Pets’ After-Credits Scene: Illumination Entertainment May Have A ‘Despicable’ Surprise In Store For Fans Before And After The Movie

Does The Secret Life of Pets have an after-credits scene?

If you’re a fan of the Despicable Me series, then it may be worth waiting all the way to the end of the latest Illumination Entertainment family movie — and to get there early, as well.

More details can be found below, but first a primer for those unfamiliar with what’s known in the movie industry as a stinger. It was once a rarity for a movie to hide a scene after all the credits have finished rolling, but now it’s become something of a standard in certain movie genres. If you go to a superhero movie, it’s more than likely that there’s some kind of scene after the credits (and if it’s a Marvel superhero movie, then it’s guaranteed that you get two of those scenes, one during the credits and one after them).

Family movies are more of a mixed bag, with some movies tucking adorable scenes at the end but others ending with nothing. And if you’ve been in the movie theater for two hours with kids who have been eating sugary candy and are itching to get out and go to the bathroom, it’s hard to wait five minutes and hope there’s something worth it.

A full review of The Secret Life of Pets can be found here.

Luckily, they won’t have to guess with The Secret Life of Pets. The movie does have an after-credits scene, one that critics say is a great callback to another movie that families love. As Bustle noted, the studio that created The Secret Life of Pets, Illumination Entertainment, also stuck an after-credits scene in all of the Despicable Me movies.

And without giving away too many details, the report noted that the after-credits scene in The Secret Life of Pets has a cute reference to Despicable Me.

“It’s not too shocking that the comedy has a post-credits scene, given that all of the Despicable Me movies had one, as did Illumination Entertainment’s Easter-themed movie Hop. But the Secret Life of Pets post-credits scene is still a fun surprise, and definitely worth sticking around for after the movie ends. The scene, which shows all of the pets at a rockin’ party, recalls a few specific jokes from the narrative and also makes a few new ones. It also has a tongue-in-cheek reference to Despicable Me.“

The inclusion of Despicable Me into the end-credits scene wouldn’t be too big of a surprise to anyone following the marketing of the movie. Illumination Entertainment has worked the Minions into much of the advertising for this week’s movie, including plenty of cross-overs on the promotional Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BF9S3G6J5XJ/?taken-by=secretlifeofpets

And there’s even more Minion fun before The Secret Life of Pets, with a special short featuring the popular yellow characters that plays before the movie.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGxK7f0J5dR/?taken-by=secretlifeofpets

There could potentially be a huge audience waiting to see what The Secret Life of Pets hides after the credits. The movie already drew $5.3 million in box office receipts from late-night openings on Thursday, Deadline noted, which is the second-best ever for a cartoon.

The movie is tracking for an opening weekend of close to $90 million, the report added, though some industry followers believe it could come in a little lower given that Finding Dory has remained so strong. The Pixar follow-up to Finding Nemo actually just crossed the $400 million mark, putting it ahead of Frozen for top animated movies.

With some of the summer superhero movies falling short of projections, it’s the family movies picking up the slack and drawing moviegoers into the seats this summer. That could mean a long run for The Secret Life of Pets as well, and plenty of views for the clever end-credits scene.

As Bustle noted, the after-credits scene in The Secret Life of Pets could serve another function. The final scene reportedly sets up the potential for a Secret Life of Pets sequel — which, given the box office projections, could be a very strong possibility.

[Image via Illumination Entertainment]