Maya Rudolph is an American actress and comedian. Born in Gainesville, Florida, and raised in Los Angeles, she is the daughter of the late singer Minnie Riperton (1947–1979) and composer Richard Rudolph. From 2000 to 2007, Rudolph was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). Her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards from fifteen nominations. In 2024, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein is an American actress, writer, director, and producer. Known for her distinctive raspy voice and tough persona, the accolades she has received include two Screen Actors Guild Awards, alongside nominations for five Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Critics' Choice Television Award.
Alexandrea Borstein is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She is best known for voicing Lois Griffin in the animated comedy series Family Guy (1999–present), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She gained further acclaim for starring as Susie Myerson in the comedy-drama series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023), which earned her two Primetime Emmy Awards.
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The studio has released a total of 49 feature films, including several of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Shrek 2 (2004) having been the highest at the time of its release. Its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film, The Wild Robot, was released on September 27, 2024. They have an upcoming theatrical slate of films, which includes Dog Man on January 31, 2025, The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025, Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie on September 26, 2025, and Shrek 5 on July 1, 2026.
Richard Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance.
Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group.
Aaron Blabey is an Australian author of children's books.
The Smurfs Movie is an upcoming animated musical fantasy film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo. A reboot of The Smurfs film series, it is directed by Chris Miller and co-directed by Matt Landon, from a screenplay written by Pam Brady. The film stars Rihanna as the voice of Smurfette, alongside an ensemble cast including Nick Offerman, Natasha Lyonne, JP Karliak, Dan Levy, Amy Sedaris, Nick Kroll, James Corden, Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, Sandra Oh, Alex Winter, Billie Lourd, Xolo Maridueña, Kurt Russell, and John Goodman. In February 2022, it was reported that LAFIG Belgium and IMPS, the owners of the Smurfs brand, had agreed to a partnership with Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies to produce multiple animated Smurfs films, with the first project being a musical. Brady was attached to write the screenplay, with production set to begin later that year. By June 2022, Miller had been hired to direct the film, and by April 2023, Rihanna had joined the film as a voice actor and producer, along with writing and recording original songs. Animation services were provided by Cinesite.
Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress, comedian and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, Yellow Ranger (2014), and appeared on the MTV comedy series Girl Code (2014–2015). She expanded to films with supporting roles in the comedies Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). For her starring role as a grieving young woman in The Farewell (2019), she won a Golden Globe Award.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 is a 2019 animated comedy film based on Rovio Entertainment's Angry Birds video game series, produced by Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and Rovio Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The sequel to The Angry Birds Movie (2016), the film was directed by Thurop Van Orman and co-directed by John Rice from a screenplay by Peter Ackerman, Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart. It is an international co-production between Finland and the United States. Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, and Peter Dinklage reprise their voice roles from the first film, with newcomers Leslie Jones, Rachel Bloom, Awkwafina, Sterling K. Brown, and Eugenio Derbez joining the ensemble voice cast. In the film, the birds are forced to team up with the pigs to stop Eagle Island's leader from destroying both of their Islands.
Zazie Olivia Beetz is a German and American actress. She is known for her role in the FX comedy-drama series Atlanta (2016–2022), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She starred in the Netflix anthology series Easy (2016–2019) and has voiced Amber Bennett in the adult animated superhero series Invincible since 2021.
Pierre Perifel is a French filmmaker and animator. He is best known for his work at DreamWorks Animation, including directing the short film Bilby (2018) and the feature film The Bad Guys (2022).
Extinct is a 2021 animated science fiction comedy film directed by David Silverman, and co-directed by Raymond S. Persi, from a screenplay by Joel Cohen, John Frink, and Rob LaZebnik. The film features the voices of Rachel Bloom, Adam Devine, Zazie Beetz, Ken Jeong, Catherine O'Hara, Benedict Wong, Reggie Watts, and Jim Jefferies. Its story follows Op and Ed, two adorable cat-like creatures with giant holes in the center, called the "flummels", that find themselves transported from their island home in the year 1835 to modern day Shanghai.
The Bad Guys is a 2022 American animated heist comedy film based on the children's book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey, produced by DreamWorks Animation Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Pierre Perifel from a screenplay by Etan Cohen, and stars the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh. It tells the story of a criminal group of anthropomorphic animals who, upon being caught, pretend to attempt to reform themselves as model citizens, only for their leader to find himself genuinely drawn to changing his ways for good as a new villain has his own plans.
The 35th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2019, were presented by Film Independent on February 8, 2020. The nominations were announced on November 21, 2019 by actresses Zazie Beetz and Natasha Lyonne. The ceremony was televised in the United States by IFC, taking place inside its usual tent setting on a beach in Santa Monica, California. Aubrey Plaza returned to host the ceremony for the second time.
DreamWorks Animation Television is an American animation studio that serves as the television production arm of DreamWorks Animation, itself a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. Founded in 1996, the entity was formerly named DreamWorks Television Animation. Its first programs from the 1990s and early 2000s used the live-action television logo, and were produced by DreamWorks Television, before DWATV and its parent company were spun off into an independent company in 2004 and later purchased by NBCUniversal in 2016. In total, the division has released 59 programs, with 7 in development.
Sam Rockwell is an American actor. He became well known for his leading roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Lawn Dogs (1997), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Matchstick Men (2003), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Moon (2009), Gentlemen Broncos (2009), G-Force (2009), Seven Psychopaths (2012), Mr. Right (2015), Richard Jewell (2019), and The Bad Guys (2022). He has also played supporting roles in The Green Mile (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999), Charlie's Angels (2000), Frost/Nixon (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Conviction (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Way, Way Back (2013), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Vice (2018), and Jojo Rabbit (2019).
Trolls is an American animated media franchise created by DreamWorks Animation, inspired by the successful line of Troll doll toys created by Thomas Dam. It follows the adventures of a pair of trolls named Poppy and Branch as they live among their village of pop-singing trolls. The franchise consists of three feature films, Trolls, released in 2016, Trolls World Tour, released in 2020, and Trolls Band Together, released in 2023. The franchise has been supplemented by two holiday television specials titled Trolls Holiday and Trolls: Holiday in Harmony, and two animated series: Trolls: The Beat Goes On! on Netflix, and Trolls: TrollsTopia on Hulu and Peacock. The Trolls franchise made $5 billion in retail sales by 2005.
The Bad Guys is an illustrated children's graphic novel series written by Australian author Aaron Blabey. It revolves around a gang of anthropomorphic animals known as the "Bad Guys", who attempt to perform good deeds to change society's perception of them as criminals.
The Bad Guys is a media franchise made by DreamWorks Animation, loosely based on the children's book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey. The franchise began with the 2022 film The Bad Guys, and has since grown to include two holiday specials, which were released on Netflix in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and a sequel, The Bad Guys 2, set for release on August 1, 2025.
