The cast of the upcoming DreamWorks CG-animated film, The Bad Guys, got together for a virtual table read, offering audiences a sneak peek at the new project. Stars Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, and Lilly Singh all take part in the two-and-a-half-minute reading now available on YouTube.
The Bad Guys, based on the New York Times Bestseller Graphic Novel series of the same name, focuses on the exploits of a band of misunderstood animals, led by Mr. Wolf, voiced by Sam Rockwell. After a series of misunderstandings leads to Wolf being called a “good boy”, Wolf reforms his dastardly ways and convinces his fellow predators to attempt the same. The book’s author, Aaron Blabey, serves as an executive producer on the movie.
The Bad Guys is helmed by first-time director Pierre Perrifel, a supervising animator at DreamWorks who worked on Rise of the Guardians and Kung Fu Panda 2. Etan Cohen, co-author of Tropic Thunder and writer of Men in Black 3 handled the screenwriting duties. Blabey’s best-selling series of Bad Guys books span fourteen volumes and counting so it could be an entire franchise for Dreamworks if the initial film proves a success.
The film was set to premiere in September 2021 but COVID delays led distributor Universal to push the release date to April of next year for US audiences. Viewers in Blabey’s native Australia will be able to catch The Bad Guys a month early when it has its premiere there in March 2022.