Animation studios have established a certain look — Sony Animation is often full of innovative, stylized art, Pixar will undoubtedly make some sort of cutting-edge, high-concept tearjerker, Aardman is keeping British stop-motion work alive, and Illumination is doing something with the minions. Dreamworks, for better or for worse, established a reputation as the Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon studio, but everything changed with 2024’s The Wild Robot.
Dreamworks’ surprisingly intimate movie about a robot who lands on a strange island and bonds with the animals there was a departure for the studio and a hit with audiences. Thankfully, we’re about to get more of Roz’s adventures with young gosling Brightbill — and possibly a new era for Dreamworks.
According to TheWrap, The Wild Robot will get a sequel entitled The Wild Robot Escapes. However, not everything will be the same as before. Original director Chris Sanders will return only to write the screenplay, and two others will take over directing duties: Nimona co-director Troy Quane and Wild Robot head of story Heidi Jo Gilbert.
Just as The Wild Robot was based on the book of the same name by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Escapes is based on the second book in the trilogy. It follows Roz as she is assigned to assist on a dairy farm, but she misses her life on the island. Word of her displeasure eventually gets to Brightbill, and he stages a prison break for her.
The fact that the sequel has the same title as the second book not only means we probably know what to expect, but it also means we can speculate about the long-term plans of this franchise as a whole. The original Wild Robot books were written as a trilogy, which means it’s likely we’ll see the third book, The Wild Robot Protects, on screen eventually. That book follows Roz as she investigates a “poison tide” that is infecting the island’s sea-dwellers, eventually diving down into the depths herself.
There’s still no word about a release date for The Wild Robot Escapes, but it’s likely that much of the voice cast will return to keep continuity between the two films. Even if this movie comes from different directors, it should still have that same painterly vibe and look.
Could this be Dreamworks’ next big thing? Could it continue beyond even these three novels? After all, Shrek was a book adaptation, and it sparked multiple movies and spinoffs. Just because this robot can’t make Dreamworks Face, it doesn’t mean she can’t be the new face of Dreamworks.
