Encore! 'Sing 2' Trailer Drops
Last year we saw the majority of the year's planned animated movies have their dates pushed back and/or their releases shifted to digital. Animation was noted as one area that could actually largely carry on through the shutdown with artists working at home. Luckily that meant that pretty much all the major releases did make it out eventually in some form. One notable exception was Illumination's Minions 2: The Rise Of Gru, with the Paris-based studio having to shut down work on the film completely. Although at the time just months from completion, Minions was put on ice and it's now not due out until next summer. In the meantime, though we have another sequel from the studio to look forward to this Christmas sees Sing 2 (hopefully) hit cinemas.
Details have been pretty thin on the ground about the sequel to 2016 musical comedy. The first film turned out to be quite a surprise. Although the film's key selling point was seeing well-known songs performed by funny cartoon animals, it had real character and a sense of real warmth. That was largely thanks to British writer-director Garth Jennings (Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Son Of Rambow) who made sure it had a lot more appeal to it than just the 'American Idon/X- Factor with Animals' pitch would make you think.
Jennings is back for the sequel, as are the starry voice cast including Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Reese Witherspoon and Nick Kroll. Fresh from saving their theatre, McConaughey's Buster has set his sights on debuting a new show in a much more prestigious location, In order to do so, Buster and company have to convince reclusive rock-legend lion Clay Calloway (voiced by Bono) to return to the stage. Bobby Cannavale voices the film's villain a ruthless media mogul wolf, Jimmy Crystal. Also joining the cast are Letitia Wright, Eric Andre, Chelsea Peretti and musicians Halsey and Pharell Williams. I'm pretty sure I also spotted a hilarious appearance from Jennings' pal and British comedy legend Adam Buxton (Hot Fuzz, Stardust).
No mere teaser, this trailer is something of an epic- it probably shows a bit too much if we're honest. Suffice to say, if you were a fan of the first film, it looks like you'll have a hoot here, as it seems like it's playing a similar tune, only turned up to 11. Likewise, if the first film wasn't your cup of tea then this really isn't going to win you over.
Sing 2 will sashay onto screens in the US and Canada on December 22. The UK release is set for January 28 of 2022.
