Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment has adjusted the planned release dates for sequel entries in three of their growing hit franchises: The Secret Life of Pets, Minions and Sing.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 is being knocked back a year for a 4th of July weekend release of July 3, 2019. Announced in August of last year, Pets 2 will see the return of director Chris Renaud, producers Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, and writer Brian Lynch. The first film was released July 8, 2016 and raked in an impressive $875.4 million at the global box office.
Minions 2 is making a small move, coming forward a weekend to take advantage of the same holiday by opening July 3, 2020. Released July 10, 2015, the first Despicable Me spinoff featuring the little banana-loving baddies made an astounding $1.159 billion worldwide despite a middling critical reception.
And Sing 2 will return to the winter holiday spot with a Christmas release on Friday, December 25, 2020. The all-animal, music-driven film came out December 21 and has accumulated a global box-office take to the tune of $425 million, so far.
Illumination also has Despicable Me 3 coming June 30, 2017 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas set for November 9, 2018. It is unclear what will take Pets 2’s previous July 2018 spot. It’s possible that one of the studio’s in-development titles may swoop in, or distributor Universal may reorganize its DreamWorks feature releases to fill the summer spot — DWA’s Tim Minchin project Larrikins is currently set for February 2018.
