Wreck-It Ralph 2 has just received its official release date, according to the Independent . Walt Disney has just made a video announcement on its Facebook page, saying that the sequel to the original 2012 animated fantasy-comedy film is coming.
https://www.facebook.com/WaltDisneyStudiosAUNZ/posts/1165116890193161
The project is a yet another indication that Disney is serious about its efforts to continue releasing sequels to its classic animated films. On Friday, the Mouse House announced that Wreck-it-Ralph 2 is set for production.
In fact, Wreck-it-Ralph 2 will have its original director Rich Moore and screenwriter Phil Johnston on board while John C. Reilly will once again voice the animated film’s good guy/bad guy main character.
Wreck-It Ralph 2 Director Rich Moore Offers Story Details – https://t.co/xtYFvVwJjJ pic.twitter.com/kpDY9lwwaS
— Screen Rant (@screenrant) June 30, 2016
In the original film, Ralph (voiced by Reilly) was a giant who wanted to escape his destiny of being a video game villain and attempted to be the hero in the real world for at least a day. But the character is faced with a whole new challenge, during which he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, voiced by Sarah Silverman.
Both Reilly and Silverman are returning for Wreck-it-Ralph 2 , which will take place in the digital age as revealed by director Moore in his recent interview with Collider . The director added that Ralph will attempt to break the internet, but didn’t elaborate on how exactly he is planning to do so.
‘Wreck It Ralph 2’ Announced, First Image Released https://t.co/m7cT3CMAMH pic.twitter.com/KtLShA2SGW
— Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) June 30, 2016
Wreck-it-Ralph 2 is set to hit theaters on March 9, 2018. And while it’s a little less than two years to wait for the sequel’s release, there is an upcoming release of Disney’s project titled Moana , in which Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson are performing the voice work.
But many are wondering whether Disney fans will be excited to see the comeback of Ralph, according to Forbes . Many are wondering whether Wreck-it-Ralph 2 could reach the success of the original film , which grossed $281 million worldwide.
In 2012, Ralph charmed audiences with his desperate attempts to break the boundaries. And all he wanted to do is for the world to not treat him as a bad guy and a pariah. But will Ralph manage to break the boundaries again in Wreck-it-Ralph 2 ?
However, the original 2012 film wasn’t a big hit from Disney. By contrast, Disney’s Brave , which was released that same year, grossed $538 million worldwide, while DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3 made a whopping $746 million worldwide in 2012. Yes, it was quite a year for animated films.
Interestingly, it’s predicted that Wreck-it-Ralph 2 will hit theaters before the yet-to-be-announced Frozen 2 , which means it will be Disney’s first intentional animated film sequel to an intentionally animated film original since Fantasia 2000 , released in 1999.
So Wreck-It-Ralph 2 & Frozen 2 r now official. Where were all these Disney sequel in the 90s?… Oh wait…???? pic.twitter.com/twpq8R1Wvw
— Monica Medrano (@Momo08911) June 30, 2016
But some don’t count Fantasia 2000 as a sequel. In that case, Wreck-it-Ralph 2 will most likely be the first such sequel since The Rescuers Down Under released in 1990. Note: Peter Pan: Return to Neverland (2002) and The Jungle Book 2 (2016) were released as direct-to-DVD animated films.
And with the announcement of Wreck-it-Ralph 2 many are wondering whether Disney is set to release more theatrical sequels to its classic animated films and create franchises like Marvel does.
But some Disney fans are not happy about the upcoming Wreck-it-Ralph 2 since they think it was Disney’s charm to never release sequels to their original stories and leave their past successes in the past, no matter how big the original films were.
And it’s understandable why Disney decided to make a sequel to Frozen since the original film grossed a whopping $1.2 billion worldwide and received worldwide fame. But what about Wreck-it-Ralph 2 ? Was the original film, which grossed about a billion dollars less than Frozen , such a success that it warrants a sequel?
[Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP]
