One of the Best Animated Movies of The Year Is Getting A…

Summary

The Wild Robot sequel is confirmed to be in development, following the success of the first film.
Director Chris Sanders has stated that there are plans for a second movie, hinting at a continuation of the story.
The story of Peter Brown's novel The Wild Robot Escapes is the likely direction for the sequel.

The year has been full of top-tier animated features, whether it be Pixar's blockbuster sequel Inside Out 2 or the return of the Autobots in Transformers One. Recently, another one of 2024's breakout animated feature films, Dreamworks' The Wild Robot, was confirmed to have a sequel in development.

The Wild Robot is an adaptation of Peter Brown's novel of the same name, directed by Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch). Produced by Dreamworks, The Wild Robot quickly rose to critical acclaim, joining the ranks of the studio's other hit animated films Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda. The film follows a helpful robot named Roz who becomes stranded in the wilderness and must adapt to her new surroundings. Roz attempts to help the animal inhabitants of her new home and eventually bonds with a young gosling who has lost his mother. The Wild Robot stars Lupita Nyong'o as Roz, along with Heartstopper's Kit Connor as Brightbill, The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal as Fink, and Mark Hamill as Cactus.

Now it appears The Wild Robot will be the next Dreamworks film to receive the franchise. Speaking at Deadline Contenders, director Chris Sanders confirmed that “100% yes there are absolutely plans for a second one." Sanders stopped short of providing any more detail about what stage of development The Wild Robot sequel is at or whether any cast members are attached. The director had expressed hopes for a sequel in a previous interview with NBC, saying "This was a labor of love on the part of everybody at the studio, and yes, I think I’d love to go and stay here for a while."

“100% yes there are absolutely plans for a second one."

The development of a sequel isn't surprising given The Wild Robot's huge success. The film has grossed almost $150 million at the worldwide box office at the time of writing and is already in talks for Best Animated Feature at next year's Academy Awards. The Wild Robot has maintained a 98% positive critics score on Rotten Tomatoes since its release, which is now matched with a 98% approval rate on the audience Popcornmeter. As far as positive reception goes, The Wild Robot has had a stellar one.

It would make sense that the sequel to The Wild Robot would continue to follow the story set out in Peter Brown's novels. Brown has written three novels in The Wild Robot series, which include:

The Wild Robot (2016)
The Wild Robot Escapes (2018)
The Wild Robot Protects (2023)

The first The Wild Robot film effectively covers the events of Brown's first book, making The Wild Robot Escapes a likely direction for the sequel to go in. The Wild Robot Escapes shows what happens to Roz when she is returned to the robot factory and is forced to live among human civilization after adapting to life in the wilderness. While forced to work on a farm, Roz has dreams of escaping and returning to find her son, Brightbill on the island. This would line up with the finale depicted in the film version of The Wild Robot. The film ends on something of a cliffhanger for Brightbill and Roz, which will now finally be resolved in The Wild Robot's sequel. What's more exciting is that The Wild Robot Escapes has been rated even higher than The Wild Robot by readers on Goodreads, meaning the sequel has the potential to be even better than the original film.