This year Disney Animation had some news at Cinemacon, the convention for theater owners. In addition to getting to hear all the Disney movies coming from the Mouse House as well as watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, a new name for Wreck-It Ralph 2 was announced. Wreck-It Ralph is escaping out of his arcade and into the expansive universe of the internet next year when Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 hits the big screen. Dave Hollis, head of distribution for The Walt Disney Studios, revealed the much-anticipated sequel’s title and told CinemaCon attendees that Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer would be returning to the roster.
Also returning are the team behind the original Wreck-It Ralph, who won an Oscar last month for Walt Disney Animation Studios Zootopia. We are told that directors Rich Moore (“Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “The Simpsons”) and Phil Johnston (writer, “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Zootopia,” “Cedar Rapids”), and producer Clark Spencer (“Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Bolt”) are hard at work on the movie. “To take these characters we love and have them enter the enormous world of the internet has given us so much to explore,” said Moore. “Our production team has been hard at work designing a world that takes something we all think we know – the internet – but shows it in a whole new, imaginative way.”
Moore took to Twitter to share his excitement.
https://twitter.com/_rich_moore/status/846910727206006784
Added Johnston, “We’re so excited to be working with Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz, Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun again, and we have new characters we look forward to unveiling. At the center of this film, as in the first one, is the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope, two once-outcasts, who in each other, found true friendship.”
When Wreck-It Ralph opened on Nov. 2, 2012, it turned in the highest opening weekend ever for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film at the time of release. Nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for best animated feature, “Wreck-It Ralph” won the PGA Award for outstanding producer of an animated theatrical motion picture as well as five Annie Awards, including best animated feature, director, cast and screenplay. The film was named best animated feature by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, earned outstanding achievement in casting for an animated feature by the Casting Society of America, and won the Kids’ Choice Award for favorite animated movie.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 hits U.S. theaters on March 9, 2018.