2019 in Animated Features

Well, you know the old saying. 'Another year over, and a new one just begun'. John Lasseter, co-founder of Pixar and chief executive of both Disney and Pixar, now no longer works for either companies. In November 2017, he was accused of doing something unmentionable, and took a six month leave. In June 2018, Lasseter appointed Jennifer Lee, screenwriter for Wreck-it Ralph and Zootopia and director of Frozen, as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, while Pete Docter, director of Monsters Inc, Up, and Inside Out, oversees Pixar. Not to mention that Ed Catmull retired from both Disney and Pixar. On a more positive note, Don Bluth finally returns to Disney after four long decades.

Don Bluth (right) with veteran Disney animator Mark Henn (left)

and an anonymous guest (middle).

Anyway, let's see what 2019 has in store for us in animated features!

In February, Emmet, Wild Style, Batman, Unikitty, and the rest of the LEGO gang return for the highly anticipated sequel The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. In this film, a war has raged on against the Master Builders and the Duplo aliens. A mysterious figure in pink captures Emmet's friends and brings them back to her home planet, and now it's up to Emmet to save them.

Also in February, another highly anticipated sequel will be released, How To Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World. In this film, Hiccup and Toothless discover a new land inhabited by undiscovered dragons, including a female who bears a resemblance to Toothless. However, Grimmel, a dragon poacher, won't rest until every Night Fury is dead, and he plans on killing Toothless. I just hope this film lives up to its hype.

In March, Nickelodeon will release their first CGI movie since Rango, Wonder Park. It will be co-produced by Illion Entertainment (not to be confused with Illumination Entertainment), the same studio behind Planet 51.

In April, Laika will release their fifth feature film, Missing Link. In this film, a scientist named Lionel Frost meets and discovers the Missing Link between man and ape. Lionel trains Link to behave like a man and plans to bring him to his absent-minded explorers. I just hope the film will do better at the box-office than Kubo and the Two Strings did, which unfortunately tanked at the box-office.

In May, Shaun and the Flock will return for another feature film, Shaun the Sheep 2: Farmageddon. When an alien with amazing powers crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun the Sheep goes on a mission to shepherd the intergalactic visitor home before a sinister organization can capture her.

There will be two animated movies in June. The first will be The Secret Life of Pets 2. Louis CK will not reprise his role as Max, the dog in the picture above: Instead, Patton Oswalt, the voice of Remy in Ratatouille and Nom Nom on We Bare Bears, will voice him.

The second will be Pixar's final sequel until further notice, Toy Story 4. In this film, Bonnie adds a new toy to her collection named Forky. The Toys embark on a road trip and discover how big the world is for a toy. I'm honestly not that impressed so far with the story, and I think Forky looks scary.

In August, the famous flightless pig-killing birds will return for The Angry Birds Movie 2. It will be directed by Thurop van Orman, who also created the Cartoon Network series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.

There will be two animated movies released in September. The first will be Blue Sky's next feature film, Spies in Disguise. It will be Blue Sky's first film since Epic to star humans, and Will Smith's first animated film since Shark Tale.

The second will be Abominable, from the creators of Kung Fu Panda 3. It will be about a group of misfits returning a young yeti to his family in Mount Everest. I wonder how this film will differentiate itself from The Son of Bigfoot and Smallfoot.

And last, but not least, in November, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristof, and Sven return in an all-new full-length adventure with Frozen 2. Not much is known about the plot yet, but one thing's for certain: It will very likely be a big hit.
For the time being, the only films I'm interested in seeing this year are How to Train Your Dragon 3 and Missing Link. I'll also try seeing Spies in Disguise, since I'm a secret rooter for Blue Sky.

Once again, there will be more animated films than the ones listed above that will premiere this year, but these were the ones I wanted to cover.
I'm sorry that there are no posters for The Angry Birds Movie 2, Abominable, or Frozen 2 shown here. As I am typing this, there are no posters or sneak peak art for those said movies, yet.