What is interesting is how Illumination Entertainment, who seemed to only have one hit with Despicable Me and its related Minions films, has finally had another hit besides Hop (not considerable) and The Lorax. The computer animation studio has had a hit with The Secret Life of Pets, and anything that gets a hit generally receives a sequel. So, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is happening, and this is everything that is know about its release date as well as other Illumination Entertainment projects.
This is the point where I have to remove my personal opinion here, as I saw the trailer for The Secret Life of Pets, and I didn't think it looked all that interesting. What is interesting is that The Secret Life of Pets set a record for best opening weekend for an original film (including non-animated) at 104.3 million, according to Variety. So far, the film has been made about $400 million worldwide, and it hasn't even hit China yet. In fact, I heard that this film did better in its second week then the reboot of Ghostbusters in its first week.
According to Movie Fone, there is no plot yet. If you saw the original, then you know that it is about what the pets do when their owners are not present. In fact, one of the criticisms of the film was it was very similar to Toy Story.
Perhaps I shouldn't have said that, but The Secret Life of Pets is about a dog who lives in a home with a pleasant owner, and then another dog comes into the household to live. This shakes things up for the first dog, and then both of the dogs have to leave the house and have an adventure. So, I suppose that the next The Secret of Pets movie will have to emulate Toy Story 2, or something.
So, there is probably going to be a return of the stars of Louis CK and Eric Stonestreet, as well as the other ensemble cast like Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Bobby Moynihan, and Albert Brooks.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 will hit theaters on July 13, 2018. Illumination Entertainment's newest film will hit theaters on December 21, 2016 with Sing, which looks to be some kind of American Idol and a musical. Illumination will then return back to familiar territory with Despicable Me 3 on July 30, 2017, which will deal with Gru, his new wife, and his adopted daughters, not to mention the Minions, again.
