Animation studio Illumination has already made a quite a name for itself, with last summer’s Minions, a standalone spin-off title from the already exceedingly popular Despicable Me feature franchise, having become one of the highest grossing animated movies of all time. The Universal Studios subsidiary production company will also see the release of The Secret Life of Pets later this summer, which is set to feature a star-studded cast of comedic talents that might just win the still young animation studio even more acclaim (and substantial box office returns too).
Though that’s not all the folks over at Illumination have up their proverbial sleeves to be released in 2016. The teaser trailer for Sing highlights another bit of family-friendly animated fare by Illumination that will arrive this year, starring another star-studded cast of anthropomorphic animals, mammalian and otherwise.
In the Sing footage, Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) stars as Buster Moon, a dapper Koala tasked forced with keeping his once-successful theater afloat in an economy otherwise disinterested in theatric or dramatic entertainment. That is until he develops the idea for producing a singing competition that serves to attract the attention of the local population of would-be stars and premiere thespians of misfits, put-upon parents, and spurious rebels.
Sing also costars Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon (Wild) as an overtaxed sow beleaguered by her 25 dependent piglets, Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) as a punk-rock procupine looking to make her way out of the shadow of her overbearing boyfriend, and Seth MacFarlane (A Million Ways to Die in the West) as a crooning con-mouse. The entire production appears to be as wildly colorful and musically diverse as its supporting cast is multi-talented and remarkably conceived, and the film proper should offer viewers a distracting bit of musical comedy to enjoy with their younger family members during the 2016 holiday season.
Whether or not Sing proves to be nearly as successful as Minions and the preceding Despicable Me franchise films remains to be seen, as the impending success of the like-minded The Secret Life of Pets due out in July could affect Illumination going forward. Hopefully the likes of McConaughey, Witherspoon, Johansson, and MacFarlane will serve to attract viewers back to the theater when Sing finally sees release come December 2016, and the movie will stand as a shining example of the animation studio’s continued success and ingenuity.
Sing will see theatrical release in the U.S. on December 21st, 2016.
