There are some concrete inevitabilities to the universe. What goes up must come down, the sun will rise in the east and any profitable animated film will get a sequel. So, to the surprise of precisely nobody, Universal and DreamWorks Animation have announced Trolls 2, the sequel to 2016’s mildly diverting CG animated Trolls, which brought to life the frizzy haired novelty toys via the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberland, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden and Gwen Stefani.
Sadly, we’ll have to wait until April 10th, 2020 to see what the trolls have been up to, though you can at least be assured that Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake are back as cheery and optimistic Poppy and the amusingly grumpy Branch, respectively, on board for more of whatever it is that these things get up to. What’s not yet confirmed is the participation of director Mike Mitchell, who signed on earlier this month to direct the sequel to The LEGO Movie, which is scheduled for February 8th, 2019.
Given Trolls‘ respectable $339 million at box office and Justin Timberlake’s Best Song Oscar nomination for Can’t Stop The Feeling, the announcement of Trolls 2 doesn’t come as a surprise, but it at least gives fans of the original a date to mark (way, way ahead) in their calendars. The sequel will also be the first DreamWorks Animation effort distributed by NBCUniversal, who’re no doubt hoping for a rock-solid commercial prospect.
Given that Troll dolls have been popular since the 1960s it’s unlikely people will be sick of them by 2020, leaving Trolls 2 as the safest of safe bets.