A few details regarding Walt Disney Animation Studios’ upcoming sequel to the 2012 hit Wreck-It-Ralph surfaced Tuesday during the Disney presentation at CinemaCon – the annual Las Vegas convention where distributors share their upcoming slates with theatrical exhibitors. Dave Hollis, head of distribution for The Walt Disney Studios, most importantly announced a title for the animated sequel – Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2 – and additionally provided some hints laying out the central premise for the film.
The inventive first film – which earned Oscar and Golden Globe nods for Best Animated Feature and won the Producers Guild prize in 2013 – focused on Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly, who will return for the second installment), a video game villain who ventures outside his arcade game home in hopes of redemption, eventually finding friendship in arcade outcast Vanellope von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman, who will return as well). The scope changes in the sequel as Ralph gets an upgrade, now wrecking havoc online.
Rich Moore, director of the original film and recent Oscar winner for helming Disney’s Zootopia, returns to direct the sequel alongside Phil Johnston (who co-wrote the original, as well as the billion-earning Zootopia). Moore commented, “To take these characters we love and have them enter the enormous world of the internet has given us so much to explore. Our production team has been hard at work designing a world that takes something we all think we know – the internet – but shows it in a whole new, imaginative way.” Johnston added, “We’re so excited to be working with Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz, Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun again, and we have new characters we look forward to unveiling. At the center of this film, as in the first one, is the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope, two once-outcasts, who in each other, found true friendship.”
Aside from Reilly and Silverman, comedy vets Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) and Jane Lynch (Glee) will return as members of the voice ensemble as well.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2 will hit theaters on March 9, 2018.