Despicable Me 2 Recasts Its Villain Two Months Before Release

Benjamin Bratt has been tapped by Universal Pictures to play the villain in the forthcoming summer family sequel Despicable Me 2, which gives the studio two months from today to record, edit and dub in his lines before the film's July 3 release date. He took the job after Al Pacino left over unspecified creative differences. "Over the production of Despicable Me 2, there were creative differences between us and Al Pacino, who had been cast as the voice of Eduardo in the film," said the studio in a statement. "We have mutually decided with Al to replace the voice of Eduardo with a new actor. Universal and Illumination thank Al for his many contributions to the process and look forward to a new actor bringing this memorable character to the screen upon its release this summer." The film's voice cast includes Steve Carell reprising his role as Gru, joined by Kristen Wiig, Steve Googan, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong, and Miranda Cosgrove. Universal is counting on the film to perform; earlier today a box office analyst projected the movie to take in $250 million at the domestic box office.