Animation Corner: 'Despicable Me' spinoff; 'Finding Nemo 2'; 'Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers'

There are a handful of interesting bits regarding some upcoming animated flicks, so let's just jump right into them....

* Just last month we learned that the geniuses at Illumination were planning to spinoff their popular yellow minions from Despicable Me into their own feature film, and now we know when it'll be in theaters. Universal will release the untitled film on December 19th 2014, co-directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda. We'll see the minions much sooner than that, though, as they'll be in the Despicable Me sequel which opens next year on July 3rd.


* Although Pixar has yet to officially confirm it, we already know that a Finding Nemo sequel is in the works. Adding fuel to the fire is the news that Ellen Degeneres is in talks to reprise her role as the voice of Dory, the popular Regal Blue Tang fish from the previous film. Andrew Stanton is back to direct, based on his own original story. 2016 seems like a likely target date for the film to be released. [THR]

*The full voice cast for Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers has been released, and it's not surprising to find out that nearly all of the original crew will be back for seconds. Bill Hader is back as inventor Flint Lockwood, with Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, and Neil Patrick Harris returning. Will Forte will have an expanded role as Flint's mentor, while Terry Crews is replacing Mr. T as Earl, a local cop. Kristen Schaal(Flight of the Conchords) is also joining the cast. Written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein with co-direction by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, the story picks up where the previous film left off, with Flint discovering that his water-to-food invention is still being used and creating mutant food beasts. Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers opens in 3D on February 7th 2014.