Cynthia Erivo

Source: Terrell Mullin

Cynthia Erivo

Warner Bros has updated its 2027 release calendar and bumped up the animated musical Bad Fairies starring Cynthia Erivo to May 21, making way for the sequel to A Minecraft Movie on July 23 that now goes against Disney’s The Simpsons Movie 2.

Megan Nicole Dong directs and Olivier Staphylas co-directs Bad Fairies, an original musical comedy about a subversive gang of fairies that has begun production is in London, with DNEG Animation serving as digital partner.

Making her first lead role in a major animated feature, Erivo will voice Jayne Staplegun, “a trailblazing fairy whose defiant streak sparks a rebellion”. She will next be seen in Universal’s Wicked: For Good on November 21.

Deborah Frances-White wrote the original screenplay for what will be the first feature released under the first-look deal between Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Locksmith Animation. Isabella “Machine” Summers (Florence + The Machine) is composing the score and contributing to the songs.

The Minecraft sequel goes up against The Simpsons Movie 2 from Disney/20th Century Studios and it remains to be seen if either side blinks first and changes dates to avoid cannibalisation. Both films appeal to the Gen Z and Gen Y demographics.

Jared Hess returns to direct A Minecraft Movie 2, now an eagerly awaited follow-up after the original opened in April this year and went on to gross $424m in North America and close to $1bn worldwide. It remains the highest-grossing film at the North American box office this year and kick-started an extraordinary run for the studio.

Producers are Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Roy Lee, Eric McLeod, Kayleen Walters, Torfi Frans Ólafsson, and Jason Momoa. No cast has been announced yet, although Momoa was in the original alongside Jack Black and Danielle Brooks.

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