The Mitchells Vs. The Machines 2 is in the works

Like the 2021 original, the Mitchells Vs. The Machines sequel is headed from Sony Pictures Animation to Netflix.

The Mitchells Vs. The Machines 2 is in the works

It’s kind of wild to remember that Sony Pictures Animation’s The Mitchells Vs. The Machines came out back in 2021—before A.I. had made the transition from “spooky Hollywood bad guy” to “increasingly ubiquitous irritant in our actual, non-cinematic lives.” The very funny, brightly-animated film—which had the misfortune to get sucked down into the gigantic release hole caused by the pandemic lockdowns, ultimately landing on a Netflix release—tackled the invasive nature of tech in smart, funny ways, years before ChatGPT had become our brain worm du jour.

Now it’s getting a sequel, with Variety reporting that Sony has put a follow-up into development, with The Great North‘s Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin set to write. (They’ll take over for screenwriters Mike Rianda and Jeff Lowe, while Rianda will be replaced as director by The Bad Guys 2‘s JP Sans and original Mitchells head of story Guillermo Martinez.) No word on plot, but presumably it’ll see the return of the robot-defeating Mitchell clan, played by Abbi Jacobsen, Danny McBride, Rudolph, and Rianda himself in the original film. The movie was praised for its art style—part of the boom in innovative animation that kicked off with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse—and for its blend of wacky family comedy and surprisingly heartfelt feeling amidst all the robot explosions.

Notably, the new film has already been set up for a return to Netflix, where Sony has been having a really successful time of late. (The studio’s KPop Demon Hunters, which Martinez worked as a story artist on, has become one of the streamer’s biggest hits ever.) We’re not expecting Mitchells 2 to post quite those numbers—it probably won’t have quite as many hot demon boy bands, and the original film was more of a critical and word-of-mouth darling than a massive numerical success—but it does suggest that the streamer and the animation studio have a vested interest in keeping their partnership rolling.

 
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