When it comes to Angry Birds, most people are familiar with the general premise: birds don't like pigs because they steal eggs, and so they aim to take the oinkers down by launching themselves with a slingshot. The bird vs. pig conflict is at the center of the whole thing, which is why it's a bit surprising to see them fighting on the same side in this new trailer for The Angry Birds Movie 2.
Written by Peter Ackerman (The Americans), and the feature directorial debut of Adventure Time and Camp Lazlo! writer Thurop Van Orman, The Angry Birds 2 seems to start with the famous aforementioned animosity still in place, but things start to change when the birds and pigs are united against a common enemy. It's not really made clear in this trailer, but it seems that this common enemy is a different race of birds who are tired of living on their frozen wasteland of an island.
Many of the actors from the original are coming back, including Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, and Peter Dinklage, but there are also a ton of newcomers joining the fray, including Rachel Bloom, Leslie Jones, Sterling K. Brown, Awkwafina, and Eugenio Derbez.
The first Angry Birds Movie, released in 2016, didn't exactly get the warmest reception from critics, but a sequel was definitely inevitable. Young audiences ate it up, having already been hooked on the brand courtesy of the popular mobile game, and the result was major box office success. Made with a $73 million budget, the film crossed the century mark in America with a $107.5 million gross - but that total balloons to $352.3 million when you also include all of the cash flowing in from foreign territories.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 won't exactly be following in the path of its predecessor, which got a May release when it hit theaters, but there may be significant chance for the sequel to hit even bigger when it comes out this summer. It's one of the few major movies coming out in the latter half of August this year, and that could lead to a lot of tickets being sold as parents try and figure out what the hell they should do with their kids in the weeks leading up to the start of the new school year.
This trailer has some funny moments, and the cast is certainly spectacular, so we'll just have to wait and see if The Angry Birds Movie 2 can outpace its predecessor in multiple areas. Sony Pictures Animation definitely hasn't been shy about promoting it, as this is our second full trailer, and there are still four months to go before the thing hits theaters. Perhaps they are just riding high on confidence following their big Oscar win for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse last year.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 will be arriving in theaters on August 16th, and to see what else is coming up on the big screen in the months ahead, please check out our 2019 Movie Release Calendar.
