Rovio and Sony confirm a new Angry Birds movie for 2019
The first film earned $352 million since it opened two years ago
Sony Pictures and Rovio Entertainment are making a sequel to The Angry Birds Movie, which will be in movie theatres on September 20, 2019.
The two companies have confirmed that the first film's principal cast will return for the sequel, including Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Bill Hader, Danny McBride and Peter Dinklage.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 will be directed by Thurop Van Orman (Adventure Time) and co-directed by John Rice (King of the Hill, Rick and Morty), while John Cohen (Despicable Me, The Angry Birds Movie) will return as a producer.
According to a statement released by Rovio and Sony, the first film earned $352 million at the global box-office, and opened at number one in 50 different countries in May 2016.
As such, the Angry Birds films are increasingly important for Rovio, contributing a significant part of its revenue in 2016, and still yielding returns from merchandise in 2017.
However, the Finnish company is not without problems. Rovio lost the faith of investors in February this year, after it published a lower than expected revenue forecast, causing its share price to lose 50% of its value at a stroke.
Shortly after, it closed its London studio, which was working on a new IP, after just over a year.