If you don’t have kids, 2016’s “Trolls” may have easily passed you by. But to put it in context, the DreamWorks Animated film was a huge hit that made nearly $350 million worldwide, produced massive merchandising revenue streams and spawned “Trolls: The Beat Goes On!,” a Netflix spin-off show for kids (with none of the original voice actors, but who cares, these things just print money and children will watch the shit out of them).
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Even if the movie wasn’t a monster, billion-dollar worldwide hit, you can probably bet the Trolls franchise has easily amassed over a billion with all its ancillary profits including home video, streaming, etc. In fact, “Trolls” was a major thing in my household for months thanks to my children. So, a sequel was inevitable. Now, DreamWorks Animation has released the trailer for “Trolls World Tour” which rolls into theaters next spring.
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Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake, the stars of the last film, return in an all-star sequel. The previous movie was something of a musical, or at least was filled with wall-to-wall music moments, a movie layered with classic pop songs by Cindy Lauper, Lionel Richie, Simon & Garfunkel and more. The film also somehow made a smash hit out of semi-obscure dance song by Swedish group Junior Senior mashed with Justice of all things. So, a musical component is definitely a huge part of the next film.
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“Trolls World Tour” adds to its cast Rachel Bloom, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J. Blige, George Clinton, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, along with returning cast members like James Corden and Ron Funches. Actors like Zooey Deschanel and Jeffrey Tambor have moved on, I guess. Here’s the official synopsis:
In an adventure that will take them well beyond what they’ve known before, Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) discover that they are but one of six different Troll tribes scattered over six different lands and devoted to six different kinds of music: Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop, and Rock. Their world is about to get a lot bigger and a whole lot louder.
A member of hard-rock royalty, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), aided by her father King Thrash (Ozzy Osbourne), wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let rock reign supreme. With the fate of the world at stake, Poppy and Branch, along with their friends — Biggie (James Corden), Chenille (Caroline Hjelt), Satin (Aino Jawo), Cooper (Ron Funches) and Guy Diamond (Kunal Nayyar) — set out to visit all the other lands to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb, who’s looking to upstage them all.
Cast as members of the different musical tribes is one the largest, and most acclaimed, groups of musical talent ever assembled for an animated film. From the land of Funk are Mary J. Blige, George Clinton, and Anderson .Paak. Representing Country is Kelly Clarkson as Delta Dawn, with Sam Rockwell as Hickory and Flula Borg as Dickory. J Balvin brings Reggaeton, while Ester Dean adds to the Pop tribe. Anthony Ramos brings the beat in Techno, and Jamie Dornan covers smooth jazz. World-renowned conductor and violinist Gustavo Dudamel appears as Trollzart and Charlyne Yi as Pennywhistle from the land of Classical. And Kenan Thompson raps as a hip-hop newborn Troll named Tiny Diamond.
“Trolls World Tour is directed by Walt Dohrn, who served as co-director on “Trolls.” The Full cast includes Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, J Balvin, Rachel Bloom, Flula Borg, Kelly Clarkson, James Corden, Ester Dean, Jamie Dornan, Gustavo Dudamel, Ron Funches, Caroline Hjelt, Aino Jawo, Kunal Nayyar, Ozzy Osbourne, Anderson .Paak, Anthony Ramos, Sam Rockwell, Betsy Sodaro, Karan Soni, Kenan Thompson, Charlyne Yi, with George Clinton and Mary J. Blige
“Trolls World Tour” rolls into theaters April 17, 2020. Watch the new trailer below.