Universal has postponed the premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” by one week to September 27.
By doing so, the animated movie based on Peter Brown’s popular book series will avoid directly competing with Paramount’s animated movie “Transformers One,” which is scheduled for release on Sept. 20. The film will also have an extra week of space from Warner Bros.’ “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which is expected to be the top-earning movie in September when it premieres on Labor Day weekend.
“The Wild Robot” stars a group of actors with Lupita Nyong’o leading as ROZZUM Unit 7134 — or “Roz”. She is stranded on an uninhabited island and must adapt to the challenging environment, gradually forming bonds with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.
Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill and Ving Rhames are also part of the voice cast for the movie. The direction of the film is handled by Chris Sanders, known for his work on “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Lilo & Stitch.”
While not as profitable as the summer blockbuster season, the late September/early October release period is a popular time for studios to release family films. With “Transformers One” and “The Wild Robot” coming out within a week of each other, it will be a test of whether moviegoers will have enough interest to support both films in theaters.
While both “Transformers One” and “The Wild Robot” will vie for families’ attention and spending, their main audiences do not completely overlap. Aside from families, “Transformers One” will also try to expand the fanbase for the long-standing franchise while appealing to the dedicated fans who have consistently shown up in theaters for the live-action/CGI series started by Michael Bay in 2007.
“The Wild Robot,” on the other hand, aims to attract general audiences with impressive visuals and an emotional storyline about a robot finding a chosen family in the wild, and could perform well if it receives strong feedback from critics and audiences, even with the IP-driven excitement surrounding “Transformers One” before its release.
Apart from “The Wild Robot,” Universal has also scheduled two more DreamWorks Animation projects for release in 2025: an adaptation of Dav Pikey’s “Dog Man” in January and a sequel to “The Bad Guys” in August.
