CinemaCon: Universal Reveals Unfinished ‘The Wild Robot’ Footage from DreamWorks, Sneak Peek at ‘Despicable Me 4’

DreamWorks Animation took the stage at CinemaCon on Wednesday evening to offer a glimpse at its upcoming CG-animated feature The Wild Robot. Director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods) and voice star Lupita Nyong’o (Us, The Black Panther franchise) presented unpolished footage from the fall release, based on Peter Brown’s No. 1 New York Times bestselling book.

Sanders, a three-time Oscar nominee, told presentation attendees that he took visual inspiration from classic Disney animation and the work of Hayao Miyazaki (The Boy and the Heron, Spirited Away) for his latest film, resulting in a stylized CG look he described as “a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest.”

The Wild Robot follows the journey of a robot — ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and compelled to adapt to the harsh surroundings, who gradually builds relationships with the animals on the island and becomes the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.

Nyong’o stars as the voice of Roz. The voice cast also features Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor and Stephanie Hsu, with Mark Hamill, Matt Berry Ving Rhames. The Wild Robot is written and directed by Sanders, produced by Jeff Hermann.

The Wild Robot will arrive in theaters on September 20. See the previously released trailer and imagery here.

The footage followed our antihero (voiced by Steve Carell) and a new villainess character, Poppy (Joey King), on a mission to steal a honey badger. Two Minions and Gru’s new baby Junior are along for the heist, which ends in chaos as the creature wakes up and Gru ends up with a tranquilizer in the rear.

DM4 begins a new chapter for the $4.4 billion film franchise as Gru  and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) and their girls — Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan) —welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. The emergence of a new nemesis named Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara), forces the family to go on the run.

In addition to Joey King, new characters are voiced by Stephen Colbert and Chloe Fineman. Pierre Coffin returns as the iconic voice of the Minions and Steve Coogan returns as Silas Ramsbottom.

The film is directed by Oscar nominee Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets), co-creator of the Minions, and co-directed by Patrick Delage (animation director: Sing 2, The Secret Life of Pets 2) from a screenplay is by Mike White (Migration) and Ken Daurio (Despicable Me films).

Watch the previously released trailer here.

[Sources: Variety, The Wrap]