Paramount Pictures unveiled the first trailer Monday for “The Angry Birds Movie 3,” confirming a December 23 theatrical release and a new central conflict for its short-tempered hero: parenthood.
Jason Sudeikis returns as Red, the volatile cardinal at the center of the franchise, now navigating fatherhood alongside wife Silver, voiced again by Rachel Bloom. “I’m a professional, full-time parent,” Sudeikis declares in the trailer. “It’s my new job.” Josh Gad and Danny McBride also reprise their roles as Chuck and Bomb, preserving the core trio that has anchored the series since its 2016 debut.
The threequel marks a distribution shift for the franchise, moving from Sony, which released the first two installments, to Paramount. Director John Rice, who co-directed 2019’s “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” takes the helm this time from a script by that film’s other co-director, Thurop Van Orman. Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish game studio now owned by Sega, produces alongside Prime Focus Studios, with visual effects handled by DNEG Animation.
The voice cast has expanded considerably beyond the returning leads, adding Tim Robinson, Lily James, Keke Palmer, Walker Scobell, Emma Myers, Marcello Hernandez, Sam Richardson and James Austin Johnson, along with Smosh co-founders Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox reprising supporting roles.
The roster also includes YouTube personality MrBeast and his frequent collaborator Salish Matter, additions that reflect a broader industry trend of studios courting online creators to widen a film’s reach with younger audiences.
The first “Angry Birds Movie” grossed more than $350 million worldwide in 2016, but its 2019 sequel fell well short of that mark, taking in roughly $147 million. The shortfall puts pressure on the new installment, which arrives in a crowded holiday corridor behind “Dune: Part Three” and “Avengers: Doomsday” and just ahead of Robert Eggers’ “Werwulf.”
The franchise’s struggles mirror a mixed track record for video game adaptations generally, even as recent efforts like the “Super Mario” films and HBO’s “The Last of Us” have shown the genre can still draw audiences and critical attention when executed well.
