Today marks the jailbreak for the official trailer for The Bad Guys — the latest family action-comedy from DreamWorks Animation, slinking into theaters on April 22. Based on the New York Times bestselling Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey, the feature length outing follows a crackerjack crew of animal outlaws as they attempt their most challenging con yet: becoming model citizens.
Never have there been five friends as infamous as The Bad Guys — dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf (voiced by Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), seen-it-all safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron, GLOW), chill master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson, Hot Tub Time Machine franchise), short-fused “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) and sharp-tongued expert hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians), a.k.a. “Webs.”
But when, after years of countless heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal (that he has no intention of keeping) to save them all from prison: The Bad Guys will go good.
Under the tutelage of their mentor Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade, Paddington 2), an arrogant (but adorable!) guinea pig, The Bad Guys set out to fool the world that they’ve been transformed. Along the way, though, Mr. Wolf begins to suspect that doing good for real may give him what he’s always secretly longed for: acceptance. So when a new villain threatens the city, can Mr. Wolf persuade the rest of the gang to become … The Good Guys?
The film co-stars Zazie Beetz (Joker), Lilly Singh (Bad Moms) and Emmy winner Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
The Bad Guys is directed by Pierre Perifel (animator on the Kung Fu Panda films), making his feature-directing debut. The film is produced by Damon Ross (development executive, Trolls, The Boss Baby; co-producer Nacho Libre) and Rebecca Huntley (associate producer, The Boss Baby). The executive producers are author Aaron Blabey, Etan Cohen and Patrick Hughes.
