Illumination’s ‘Sing 2’ to world premiere at AFI FEST

Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced that the World Premiere of Illumination’s Sing 2, the new animated feature film written and directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Janet Healy, will join AFI FEST 2021 as a Red Carpet Premiere. The film, in theaters December 22, will screen in-person at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre on Sunday, November 14.

In the new chapter from Illumination’s film franchise, ever-optimistic Buster Moon and his all-star cast of performers prepare to launch their most dazzling stage show yet …all in the glamorous entertainment capital of the world, Redshore City. There’s just one hitch: They first have to persuade the world’s most reclusive rock star—played by global music icon and Academy Award nominee Bono—to join them. 

Sing 2 brings back the original characters from the first film (voiced by Academy Award winners Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, Academy Award nominee Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll and Garth Jennings), plus new characters played by music superstars Academy Award nominee Pharrell Williams and Halsey, actors Bobby Cannavale and Letitia Wright, and comedians Eric André and Chelsea Peretti.

AFI FEST 2021 takes place from November 10 – 14, 2021 in Los Angeles. The World Premiere of tick, tick…BOOM! directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda will open the festival and King Richard directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green will close the festival.  Additional Red Carpet Premieres include the World Premieres of Academy Award winner Halle Berry’s directorial debut Bruised and Academy Award winner Benjamin Cleary’s feature directorial debut Swan Song, Parallel Mothers, directed by Academy Award winner Pedro Almodóvar and The Power of the Dog, directed by Academy Award winner Jane Campion. The full program can be found here.

This year’s hybrid festival will feature both in-person screenings and events, as well as virtual screenings.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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