The Croods 2

***The Croods 2*** is an upcoming American 3D computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It stars the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Cloris Leachman, Leslie Mann, Kat Dennings and Peter Dinklage. Written by Dan and Kevin Hageman, directed by Joel Crawford, and produced by Mark Swift, the film is a sequel to 2013 film *The Croods*. It is scheduled to be released on December 23, 2020.

## Cast

* Nicolas Cage as Grug Crood
* Emma Stone as Eep Crood
* Ryan Reynolds as Guy
* Catherine Keener as Ugga Crood
* Clark Duke as Thunk Crood
* Cloris Leachman as Gran
* Leslie Mann as Hope Betterman
* Kelly Marie Tran as Dawn Betterman
* Peter Dinklage as Phil Betterman

## Production

By April 2013, DreamWorks Animation had started developing a sequel to the film, with Sanders and DeMicco returning to direct it. According to DeMicco, the sequel would focus on Ugga and motherhood, making it "the first chapter of society," expanding on the first film, which is about "the last chapter of the caveman."

In September 2013, it had been confirmed that Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds would reprise their roles in the sequel. On June 12, 2014, it was announced that the sequel would be released on November 3, 2017. Two months later, it was pushed back from its original release date of November 3, 2017 to December 22, 2017. By May 21, 2015, Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings had joined the voice cast. Mann would lend her voice to an upscale mother of a rival family, while Dennings would voice her daughter. Catherine Keener and Clark Duke would also reprise their roles. On August 9, 2016, nearing NBCUniversal/Comcast's impending acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox removed the film from its planned December 22, 2017 release schedule. The film would be instead released by Universal Pictures sometime in 2018. Two weeks later, it was reported that *The Lego Movie* and *Hotel Transylvania* co-writers Kevin and Dan Hageman had been hired to rewrite the script.

On November 11, 2016, DreamWorks announced that production for the sequel was cancelled. According to reports, there had been doubts about proceeding with the project before Universal Pictures' acquisition of DreamWorks, and it was DreamWorks' decision to cancel the film. However, in September 2017, DreamWorks and Universal revealed that the movie was back in production with a release date scheduled for September 18, 2020. It was also confirmed that the original actors would reprise their roles. However, DeMicco, the co-director of the first film, won't be returning as he is directing *Vivo* for Sony Pictures Animation. In October 2017, it was reported that Joel Crawford would serve as director and Mark Swift was set to produce.

In October 2018, Peter Dinklage was cast in the film to voice the character Phil Betterman.

In April 2019, the film was moved to December 23, 2020.

In October 2019, DreamWorks revealed that Kelly Marie Tran had replaced Dennings as Dawn while Mann was still confirmed to be part of the cast.

## Release

*The Croods 2* is scheduled to be released on December 23, 2020 by Universal Pictures. It was previously scheduled to be released on September 18, 2020.