There have been great heist films and there have been animated movies featuring anthropomorphic animals getting in all sorts of hijinks released over the years, but with The Bad Guys, we’ll get the best of both worlds. The upcoming DreamWorks Animation film, which has a voice cast featuring Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, and other notable stars, will make its debut in Spring 2022, and will hopefully provide an answer for the question: can a bad guy go good?
If this is the first you are hearing about The Bad Guys movie, worry not because we have a whole vault full of information about the animated adventure including its release date, information on the cast, and other great details that will perk up your ears.
The Bad Guys Will Be Released Theatrically On April 22, 2022
The Bad Guys will provide thrills and laughs when it opens in theaters on April 22, 2022. The latest movie from DreamWorks Animation was originally slated to open theatrically on September 17, 2021, but the movie was postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and was later pushed back once again, per Deadline.
Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina And Anthony Ramos Lead The Bad Guys Voice Cast
The Bad Guys features one hell of a voice cast that includes Academy Award Winners, Golden Globe recipients, and several of the most respected comedic actors and comedians in show business today.
Leading the pack is Sam Rockwell, who provides the voice of Mr. Wolf, a seasoned thief who will do anything to keep his tight-knit group together no matter the cost. Awkwafina takes on the role of Ms. Tarantula, aka “Webs,” a hacker not too different from her Ocean’s 8 character. Anthony Ramos, hot off In the Heights, portrays Mr. Piranha, the muscle of the group. Marc Maron, of GLOW and WTF with Marc Maron Podcast fame, takes on the role of a safecracker Mr. Snake. Craig Robinson, a fixture of The Office cast, voices the master-of-disguise Mr. Shark.
Other members of The Bad Guys cast include Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh, and Alex Borstein, to name only a few.
The Bad Guys Follows A Group Of Animal Criminals Who Attempt To Fool The World Into Thinking They’ve Gone Good
According to the official plot synopsis by DreamWorks Animation, The Bad Guys centers on Mr. Wolf and his gang as they are finally caught in the act following years as being the world’s most-wanted villains. To keep his crew from spending the rest of their natural lives behind bars, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal: leave behind a life of crime and become law-abiding citizens. There’s just one thing, the fearless bandit has no intentions on being good (or so he thinks).
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The Bad Guys Is Based On Aaron Blabey’s Series Of Children’s Books Of The Same Name
The Bad Guys, which was co-written by Etan Cohen, is based on the highly successful series of children’s graphic novels of the same name by author Aaron Blabey. According to a 2018 Variety report, millions of copies of The Bad Guys books have been sold over the years, and the original, released in December 2016, has ended up both the USA Today and New York Times best-seller lists. To date, there have been 14 books released in the series, with several more slated for release in 2022 and beyond.
Making his directorial debut with The Bad Guys is longtime DreamWorks animator Pierre Perifel, who previously worked on titles including Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek Forever After, Rise of the Guardians, and Kung Fu Panda 2, to name only a few. Etan Cohen’s prior work includes Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and Get Hard, which he also directed.
Production On The Bad Guys Continued Remotely Throughout The Pandemic
Although most live-action productions (save for Malcolm & Marie, which was shot during quarantine) were forced to endure extensive delays during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a great number of animated films were able to continue through quarantine thanks to animators, designers, and voice actors working remotely. The Bad Guys was one of the productions mentioned among films that were being worked on remotely.
In May 2020, when the pandemic was still in its early stages, Deadline reported that DreamWorks Animation projects like Croods 2, The Boss Baby: Family Business, and The Bad Guys were just a few of the animated projects that were able to avoid major delays in production. This list also included Tom & Jerry, Sing 2, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Soul, all of which have been released at this point in time.
We Could Be Able To Watch The Bad Guys Streaming On Peacock As Soon As 45 Days After Release
In the past few years, studios have turned to different methods of distributing movies to the masses. We have seen it with the Warner Bros. 2021 release model which saw the studio’s slate of films open in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, while others, like Paramount and Universal, have elected to run with a model in which their major releases end up on their respective streaming services, Paramount+ and Peacock, a certain amount of days after opening in theaters.
According to Deadline, this will be the route Universal takes with The Bad Guys and the rest of the studio’s 2022 slate, which will all end up on Peacock as soon as 45 days after their theatrical and PVOD debut. The article also points out that it is unclear if the studio has plans for any additional day-and-date releases on Peacock like Halloween Kills, which debuted on the streaming service in October 2021.
The Bad Guys Trailer Offers A Glimpse Of The Action And Humor In The Animated Heist Movie
In December 2021, Universal Pictures gave the world its first look at The Bad Guys and its crew of thieves as they find themselves in one perilous situation after another. The two-minute trailer offers a glimpse at just some of the action and humor that will be featured in the latest offering from DreamWorks Animation while also not giving too much away. See for yourself:
If The Bad Guys is half as exciting as its trailer, there’s a lot to look forward to seeing when it opens in April 2022.
Expect to hear more about The Bad Guys (and hopefully find another trailer) before it opens in theaters (and later on Peacock). In the meantime, now is the perfect time to read up on all the other upcoming 2022 movies.
Philip Sledge
Content Writer
Philip grew up in Louisiana (not New Orleans) before moving to St. Louis after graduating from Louisiana State University-Shreveport. When he's not writing about movies or television, Philip can be found being chased by his three kids, telling his dogs to stop barking at the mailman, or chatting about professional wrestling to his wife. Writing gigs with school newspapers, multiple daily newspapers, and other varied job experiences led him to this point where he actually gets to write about movies, shows, wrestling, and documentaries (which is a huge win in his eyes). If the stars properly align, he will talk about For Love Of The Game being the best baseball movie of all time.
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