Trolls World Tour gets early online release
David Farnor | On 06, Apr 2020
Trolls World Tour has been released online worldwide early this Easter as Universal continues its strategy of breaking the traditional theatrical window in response to the closure of cinemas during the coronavirus pandemic.
Last month, the studio dropped The Hunt, The Invisible Man and Emma on digital platforms in a groundbreaking move to reach audiences now staying at home. Given a premium VOD release with a 48-hour rental of £15.99, the success of that move has paved the way for Trolls World Tour to do the same – other films given early digital releases include Vin Diesel actioner Bloodshot and Jamie Foxx drama Just Mercy.
Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake return for the sequel to DreamWorks Animation’s 2016 musical hit. In an adventure that will take them well beyond what they’ve known before, Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) discover that they are but one of six different Troll tribes scattered over six different lands and devoted to six different kinds of music: Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop and Rock. Their world is about to get a lot bigger and a whole lot louder.
A member of hard-rock royalty, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), aided by her father King Thrash (Ozzy Osbourne), wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let rock reign supreme. With the fate of the world at stake, Poppy and Branch, along with their friends — Biggie (James Corden), Chenille (Caroline Hjelt), Satin (Aino Jawo), Cooper (Ron Funches) and Guy Diamond (Kunal Nayyar) — set out to visit all the other lands to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb, who’s looking to upstage them all.
Cast as members of the different musical tribes is one the largest, and most acclaimed, groups of musical talent ever assembled for an animated film. From the land of Funk are Mary J. Blige, George Clinton and Anderson .Paak. Representing Country is Kelly Clarkson as Delta Dawn, with Sam Rockwell as Hickory and Flula Borg as Dickory. J Balvin brings Reggaeton, while Ester Dean adds to the Pop tribe. Anthony Ramos brings the beat in Techno and Jamie Dornan covers smooth jazz. World-renowned conductor and violinist Gustavo Dudamel appears as Trollzart and Charlyne Yi as Pennywhistle from the land of Classical. And Kenan Thompson raps as a hip-hop newborn Troll named Tiny Diamond.
Trolls World Tour is directed by Walt Dohrn, who served as co-director on Trolls, and co-directed by David P. Smith and co-produced by Kelly Cooney Cilella, both of whom worked on the first Trolls. Trolls World Tour also features original music by Justin Timberlake, who earned an Oscar nomination for Can’t Stop the Feeling!, his song for 2016’s Trolls. The film is available now on Amazon Prime Video, TalkTalk TV, Rakuten TV, Google Play, Sky Store and CHILI. Here’s a trailer: