It’s happening, folks! Four years after Walt Disney Animation Studios unveiled the swell video game-centric animated film Wreck-It Ralph, and after plenty of fervor for a follow-up, Disney announced today that Wreck-It Ralph 2 is officially a “go”. Not only that, but the Mouse House has put the sequel on the release schedule for March 9, 2018, which takes the spot previously held by the Disney Animation film Gigantic, pushing that Jack and the Beanstalk-inspired fairy tale back to November 21, 2018.
Director Rich Moore is returning to helm the untitled Wreck-It Ralph follow-up (read our exclusive interview with him about the sequel right here), which finds Ralph’s wrecking wreaking havoc on the internet as the world of Wreck-It Ralph moves away from arcades and into the virtual space. John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman return to voice Ralph and Vanellope, respectively, with Wreck-It Ralph co-writer Phil Johnston joining Moore as co-director and writer while Clark Spencer (Zootopia) produces.
Wreck-It Ralph 2 has been a long time coming, with word about the sequel surfacing every few months or so without official confirmation from Disney. Moore had his hands full as co-director of Disney’s smash hit Zootopia, but now that that film is complete and in theaters, he can fully devote his time to Wreck-It Ralph 2 as the film firmly moves forward towards its 2018 release.
On that March release date, the film currently has the weekend all to itself, although it will open one week after an untitled Fox/Marvel film and one week before Warner Bros.’ The Flash movie. As for Walt Disney Animation Studios, in addition to Gigantic they also have the Pacific Island-themed Moana slated for release this November, and Frozen 2 is currently in the works albeit without a firm release date just yet.
No doubt plenty more will be unveiled about Wreck-It Ralph 2 in the coming months, but for now fans can rest easy knowing that the sequel is officially, truly, really, actually happening. Check out the first image below.
