DreamWorks' latest animated effort, The Wild Robot, may not have even made it to British multiplexes just yet, but it's already whipping up quite the critical and commercial storm stateside. In fact, writer-director Chris Sanders' take on Peter Brown's bot-on-an-island book has proven so successful that, after cleaning up at the domestic box office to the tune of over $100 million thus far, more adventures for Lupita Nyong'o's Roz and her anthropomorphic pals are already in the pipeline. As confirmed by Deadline during their Contenders event in London this weekend, DreamWorks and Sanders will be giving The Wild Robot a sequel.
When asked whether there would be any further Wild Robot movies at the Contenders event, Sanders was quick to confirm plans for a follow-up, saying, "100% yes there are absolutely plans for a second one.” And, whilst we may still be waiting to meet Nyong'o's Roz and her Kit Connor, Pedro Pascal, and Bill Nighy voiced friends in The Wild Robot — which follows domestic droid Roz as they crash-land on a remote island and learn to make friends with its local wildlife — a sequel already makes a lot of sense. As fans of Brown's books will be well aware, The Wild Robot is only the first in a trilogy also comprising The Wild Robot Escapes and The Wild Robot Protects, all of which explore the intersection of technology and nature, and our duty to the world around us. And hey, if you want to make an animated trilogy based on some bestselling books, you could do worse than enlist the services of the guy responsible for How To Train Your Dragon!
We've no word yet on when we might expect to see The Wild Robot's sequel, who from the original movie's stacked voice cast may be set to reprise their role in it (please give us more Matt Berry!), or what it might entail (you'll find no book spoilers from us here). But, as DreamWorks' 30th anniversary celebrations get into full flow, it's exciting to see that the iconic animation outfit is showing no signs of slowing down as their next ambitious franchise comes to life. Now we just need 18 October to hurry up and get here so we can get aboard The Wild Robot hype train — we're ready for our next animated movie robot obsession!