Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders' The Croods had a rather impressive voice cast full of stars - but the sequel is evidently going even bigger. How do we know? Because all of the lead cast members will be back, and this time around joined by Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings.
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop that the two very funny ladies will be joining the ensemble of The Croods 2. As things stand, the rest of the cast includes Nicolas Cage (as Grug), Emma Stone (as Eep), Ryan Reynolds (as Guy), Catherine Keener (as Ugga) and Clark Duke (as Thunk). Weirdly there still aren't any plot details available, but the trade does have word on the roles that Mann and Dennings will be playing.
It seems that part of the plot of The Croods 2 will involve the titular family meeting another prehistoric clan, and competing in some fashion. Mann will be playing the matriarch of the other tribe, while Dennings' character is the daughter, who is evidently being affected by having her desire to hunt suppressed.
Weirdly enough, this won't be the first time that Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings have played mother and daughter. They played similar familial roles in Robert Rodriguez's family comedy Shorts - though given that movies rather dismal performance at the box office, there's a pretty good chance you didn't know that. The two actresses also both had roles in director Judd Apatow's breakout his The 40 Year Old Virgin, though their characters didn't have anything to do with one another.
While DreamWorks Animation has been struggling in recent years, The Croods was a big hit when it came out in 2013. It wasn't a superior domestic performer, making $187 million domestically against a $135 million budget, but it was a monster hits overseas, pulling in an additional $400 million. That goes a long way in explaining why the animation company is willing to shill out a few more dollars to make the voice cast even more impressive.
Like the original, Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders' The Croods 2 is based on an original screenplay that they wrote, and the movie is presumably now working its way though the long, long animation process. 20th Century Fox has plans to release the movie in theaters on December 22, 2017, which is pretty safe box office territory considering no other film has yet planted a flag in that month. Presumably the new family will have members beyond Kat Dennings and Leslie Mann's characters, so stay tuned for more updates.
