After leaving their cave in the first film, The Croods encounter their biggest threat since leaving the cave: another family called The Bettermans.
Cast
Production
Development
In April 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel to the film The Croods, with Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco set to return as directors. According to DeMicco, the sequel would focus on Ugga and motherhood, making it "the first chapter of society," expanding on the first film, which he said is about "the last chapter of the caveman." On June 12, 2014, it was announced that the sequel would be released on November 3, 2017. On August 21, 2014, the film was pushed back to December 22, 2017. On August 9, 2016, nearing NBCUniversal/Comcast's impending acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox removed the film from the release schedule. The film would be instead released by Universal Pictures sometime in 2018. On August 23, 2016, are reported that The Lego Movie and Hotel Transylvania co-writers Kevin and Dan Hageman had been hired to rewrite the script. On November 11, 2016, DreamWorks announced that production for the sequel was cancelled. According to reports, there had been doubts about proceeding with the project before Universal's acquisition of DreamWorks, and it was DreamWorks' decision to cancel the film. However, in September 2017, DreamWorks and Universal revealed that the movie was back in production with a release date scheduled for September 18, 2020. However, both DeMicco and Sanders, the directors of the first film, won't be returning as DeMicco is directing the film Vivo for Sony Pictures Animation and Sanders made his live action directorial debut with The Call of the Wild starring Harrison Ford. In October 2017, it was reported that Joel Crawford would replace both DeMicco and Sanders as director and Mark Swift set to produce. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, production of the film shifted to people working at home.
Casting
In September 2013, it had been confirmed that Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds would reprise their roles in the sequel as Grug, Eep, and Guy from the first film. On May 21, 2015, Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings had joined the voice cast. Mann would lend her voice to an upscale mother of a rival family named Hope Betterman, while Dennings was set to voice her daughter, Dawn, are also reported that Catherine Keener and Clark Duke are reprising their roles as Ugga and Thunk. In September 2017, it was confirmed that the original actors would reprise their roles. In October 2018, Peter Dinklage was cast in the film to voice the character Phil Betterman. In October 2019, DreamWorks revealed that Kelly Marie Tran had replaced Dennings as Dawn.
Release
The Croods 2 is set to be theatrically released in the United States on December 23, 2020 by Universal Pictures. It was previously scheduled to be released on November 3, 2017, December 22, 2017 and September 18, 2020.
