Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have confirmed that The Bad Guys 2, the sequel to their 2022 Aaron Blabey adaptation, will open in theaters on August 1, 2025. The second outing will reunite the filmmaking team and voice cast from The Bad Guys, which grossed $250.4 million — the 17th highest-grossing film of the year worldwide and third highest-grossing fully-animated feature.
The sequel will pick up with the gang of critter criminals, now reformed and trying to find acceptance as a new crew of “Good Guys.” But in classic heist flick form, they are forced out of retirement for “one last job” by an all-female crime squad.
Pierre Perifel again directs with co-director JP Sans (head of character animation on The Bad Guys), with Damon Ross producing. Oscar-nominated composer Daniel Pemberton also returns for the sequel.
Reprising their starring roles are Oscar winner Sam Rockwell as pickpocket Mr. Wolf, Marc Maron as safe-cracker Mr. Snake, Craig Robinson as master-of-disguise Mr. Shark, Grammy winner Anthony Ramos as hot-tempered Mr. Piranha and Golden Glob winner Awkwafina as hacker extraordinaire Ms. Tarantula, a.k.a. Webs.
Zazie Beetz (Diane Foxington), BAFTA winner Richard Ayoade (Prof. Marmalade), Emmy Award winner Alex Borstein (Police Chief Misty Luggins) and Lilly Singh (Tiffany Fluffit) will also be back for The Bad Guys 2.
The August 1 date had previously been reserved for an “untitled DreamWorks Animation” by Universal.
Universal Pictures this month released DreamWorks Animatoin’s Kung Fu Panda 4, which is punching its way to $300M worldwide ($269M as of this weekend; $132.9M domestic). Upcoming releases through the studio include Chris Sanders’ Peter Brown adaptation The Wild Robot (Sept. 20, 2024) and Dav Pilkey adaptation Dog Man (Jan. 31, 2025).
[Source: Deadline]