If minions studio Illumination Entertainment and Universal are watching the launch The Super Mario Bros. movie as their first blockbuster of 2023, the studios have released a first-look trailer for the new animated family duck franchise picture Migration.
The teaser, to play just before The Super Mario Bros. movie opens on 4,000 movie theater screens in North America and 60 markets abroad, spends a lot of time remembering Illumination blockbuster animation franchises like Despicable Me, sing And The secret life of pets.
The trailer centers on Illumination’s animated family of talking ducks, led by an overprotective father, as they head off for the vacation of a lifetime.
“Let’s fly,” says the father in the trailer as the duck family floats to the sky, merrily spinning and rolling as light as a feather on the wind as they head south over mountains and lakes. But the torrential rain soon grounded the flock of ducks, leaving the family huddled in a log to take shelter amid thunderous lightning.
“We’re not going to make it,” says an Uncle Dan character before a long-legged creature, another bird, arrives on the scene to ramp up the drama.
There’s no word on the voice cast for the feathered family vacation picture, which Universal will release in theaters on December 22, 2023 as part of a distribution deal with Illumination. Benjamin Renner directed Migrationwith the computer-generated animated film based on a screenplay by Mike White (The White Lotus).
Lighting projects, including the Despicable Me franchise, have grossed more than $8 billion worldwide. The Super Mario Bros. Movievoice, starring Chris Pratt, will hit theaters this weekend from April 7. The studio’s most recent project, Minions: The Rise of Grugrossed $364 million worldwide.
