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The Bad Guys 2

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The Bad Guys 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPierre Perifel
Screenplay by
Based onThe Bad Guys
by Aaron Blabey
Produced byDamon Ross
Starring
Edited byJesse Averna
Music byDaniel Pemberton
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • July 25, 2025 (2025-07-25) (United Kingdom)
  • August 1, 2025 (2025-08-01) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[2]
Box office$3 million[3][4]

The Bad Guys 2 is a 2025 American animated heist comedy film loosely based on the children's book series The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to The Bad Guys (2022), it was directed by Pierre Perifel, co-directed by JP Sans, and written by Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen. The film stars Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, and Alex Borstein, reprising their roles from the first film, with Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova and Natasha Lyonne joining the cast. The film sees the Bad Guys come out of retirement and joining forces with an all-female criminal squad to perform one last heist.

Perifel stated that he would love to do a sequel to The Bad Guys in March 2022, before the release of the first film. Two years later, DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel, with Perifel and the voice cast returning, while Sans served as co-director. Lyonne joined the cast in July 2024, with the involvement of Brooks and Bakalova being announced in November. Daniel Pemberton composed the score, returning from the previous film.

The Bad Guys 2 was released in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2025, and will be released in the United States on August 1.

Plot

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A flashback shows the Bad Guys undertaking their very first heist, stealing their iconic car from a wealthy man in Cairo, Mr. Soliman. Five years later and one year after the events of the first movie, Wolf, Snake, Shark, Webs and Piranha have retired from criminal work and are seeking to go straight, but their criminal history prevents them from finding steady jobs. The only who is willing to trust them is Governor Diane Foxington, the criminal formerly known as the Crimson Paw.

When a new criminal called the Phantom Bandit comes to town, the Bad Guys convince their former rival, Misty Luggins (who has been promoted to police commissioner) to help her catch them using their criminal know-how. The team finds some evidence that makes it seem like Snake is behind the thefts, and when they confront him, they discover that he is simply hanging out with his new girlfriend, a raven named Susan. The team ends up getting framed for the crime and a trio of female crook animals eventually captures them called the Bad Girls, consisting of snow leopard Kitty, the wild boar Pigtail Petrova and Susan, who goes by the code name Doom and was using her relationship with Snake to get to him and his friends.

Kitty offers the team a job to help the girls steal the experimental MOON-X rocket, but the Bad Guys refuse to help, until Kitty blackmails them into accepting by threatening to reveal footage of Diane as the Crimson Paw. Meanwhile, Diane visits their previous foe, Professor Marmalade, in prison, and he very subtly gives her clues to who set up the Bad Guys, and soon reveals that the MOON-X rocket has a magnet agent that can attract gold and that the "Phantom Bandit" is going to use it to steal every piece of gold within its radius.

The Bad Guys and Girls very carefully set their plot in motion to hijack the rocket by trying to steal a watch that operates it from the rocket's owner, Mr. Moon, who is due to be married. The heist hits a complication when Mr. Soliman is revealed to be attending the ceremony, forcing the team to improvise and steal the watch during Mr. Moon’s wedding. They manage to escape and barely get noticed. Returning to the lair, Kitty gives Wolf the hard drive with the video of Diane on it. As the Bad Girls take their leave, the group reveals that they recorded a confession from the girls.

Just as they are about to go to the cops, the Bad Girls reveal that they never left and hold the crew hostage by outfitting them with golden accessories and using the agent from the rocket to keep them held up, but Kitty gives Wolf a button that deactivates the magnetic hold at the cost of the video of Diane being automatically uploaded to the internet, and has called Luggins to reveal where the crew is. As the girls leave, the team tries to stop the video from uploading before Luggins arrives to arrest them, but are too late, exposing Diane as the real Crimson Paw and exonerating Marmalade.

Luggins arrives and arrests the crew, but has a stroke of doubt and releases them to stop the real criminals. Diane catches up to the Bad Girls before they enter the rocket and overpowers them. However, Kitty reveals that they exposed her, and before Diane can react, Kitty knocks her out with a dart gun, allowing the Girls to capture her and sneak onto the ship. Wolf and his friends jump onto the rocket just before it takes off and find space outfits as it exits Earth.

Pigtail and Doom end up having a change of heart after seeing the Bad Guys outside, not wanting to hurt them, but Kitty refuses to give up and overpowers the machine, endangering millions. As Wolf enters, he and Kitty fight. Kitty breaks the device so he can’t stop the magnet, but Wolf manages to snatch the watch from Kitty's wrist, maneuvering the rocket to knock into the gold, destroying the magnet and sending the loot safely back to Earth. Enraged, Kitty grabs Wolf and tries to kill him, before Diane comes to and angrily beats Kitty to a pulp. Wolf and Diane reunite and share their first kiss. The Bad Guys all regroup as the rocket then plummets downward to Earth, while Pigtail and Doom escape with Kitty in an escape pod.

The team is presumed dead and is honored by many with a funeral, while the Bad Girls are arrested on their escape pod landing and sent to prison. However, the Bad Guys and Diane are revealed to be alive and are recruited to join a secret agency to continue their endeavors to do good. Accepting, they are gifted a brand new car, and race off to their new careers.

A post-credit scene reveals that Marmalade had stowed away in the rocket after his release, and uses a rocket-powered limo to "go home", vacating Earth's solar system to parts unknown.

Voice cast

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In addition, Jorge R. Gutierrez was cast in an undisclosed cameo role.[‡ 2]

Production

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Development

[edit]

In March 2022, a month before The Bad Guys was released, director Pierre Perifel said that he would love to do a sequel.[9] On March 26, 2024, a sequel was confirmed by DreamWorks Animation, with Perifel returning to direct and JP Sans, who served as head of character animation on the previous film, co-directing. Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh all reprise their roles from the previous film.[10] Daniel Pemberton also returns to compose the score.[11] On July 13, 2024, it was announced that Natasha Lyonne has been cast in the sequel.[‡ 3] Danielle Brooks and Maria Bakalova were announced to be cast in the sequel in November.[5]

Animation

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On October 6, 2023, the then-unannounced film was revealed to be animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks. Imageworks would operate as a partner studio with DreamWorks utilizing a "mixed production model". Pre-production would be done in-house at DreamWorks along with approximately 50% of the asset build and one hour of production, while Imageworks will handle the other 50% of asset builds and 20 minutes of shot production.[12] All animation was finished by May 7, 2025.[‡ 4]

Marketing

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The first trailer for the film, set to "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish, was released on November 21, 2024, and was later attached to the theatrical release of Wicked (2024).[5]

Release

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The Bad Guys 2 was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2025, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on August 1.[10][13] In addition to its theatrical release, and as part of a long-term deal with Netflix for Universal's animated films, the film will stream on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next 10, and returning to Peacock for the remaining four.[14][15][16]

Reception

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Critical response

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Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on ten critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[17]

Future

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In June 2025, two months before the theatrical release of The Bad Guys 2, directors Perifel and Sans revealed in an interview with Collider that they were planning a third film.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "The Bad Guys 2 (PG)". BBFC. July 15, 2025. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  2. ^ "The Bad Guys 2 (2025) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  3. ^ "The Bad Guys 2". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  4. ^ "The Bad Guys 2 (2025) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Tangcay, Jazz (November 21, 2024). "'The Bad Guys 2' Trailer: Natasha Lyonne Joins the Heist in DreamWorks Sequel". Variety. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  6. ^ "The Bad Guys 2 filmmakers break down the first trailer introducing a new all-female gang: "We wanted to play with something else than the typical James Bond male villain"". GamesRadar+. November 21, 2024. Archived from the original on January 10, 2025. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Heath, Paul (November 22, 2024). "Back in badness – first trailer for 'The Bad Guys 2'". The Hollywood News. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  8. ^ Mitchell, Harriet (June 25, 2025). "Taskmaster's Katherine Ryan announces new role that's "unlike anything" she's done before". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  9. ^ Percival, Tom (March 31, 2022). "The Bad Guys director would love to do a sequel". The Digital Flix. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  10. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 26, 2024). "DreamWorks Animation Sets 'The Bad Guys 2' For Late Summer 2025". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 26, 2024. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  11. ^ "Daniel Pemberton to Score DreamWorks Animation's 'The Bad Guys 2'". Film Music Reporter. March 26, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  12. ^ Amidi, Amid (October 6, 2023). "Dreamworks Shifting Away From In-House Production In Los Angeles; Sony Imageworks Is A New Production Partner". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  13. ^ "'The Bad Guys 2' Goes WWE in New 4DX Poster [Exclusive]". MSN. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
  14. ^ Hayes, Dade (December 9, 2021). "NBCUniversal's New Theatrical Window Scheme To Bring Films To Peacock After As Few As 45 Days Of Release". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  15. ^ Moon, Mariella (July 14, 2021). "Netflix extends exclusive rights to Universal's animated films in the US". Engadget. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  16. ^ Hayes, Dade (October 29, 2024). "Netflix & Universal Renew Animation Licensing Deal, Adding Live-Action Titles In 2027; Peacock Pay-1 Intact". Deadline. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  17. ^ "The Bad Guys 2". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  18. ^ Jones, Tamera; Weintraub, Steven (June 17, 2025). ""We're Not Very Subtle": 'The Bad Guys 2' Directors Reveal a Dig at Elon Musk and Admit They're Totally One-Upping Tom Cruise". Collider. Retrieved July 5, 2025.

Primary sources

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^ a b c d The Bad Guys 2 Movie Site | This Summer | DreamWorks. Retrieved November 21, 2024 – via thebadguysmovie.com.[non-primary source needed]
  2. ^ @mexopolis (November 21, 2024). "Congrats to all!!! I do a little cameo in the Lucha match..." (Tweet). Retrieved November 21, 2024 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Richtman, Daniel. "The Hollywood Handle". X (a.k.a. Twitter). Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  4. ^ @pierreperifel; (May 7, 2025). "This is it… Bad Guys 2 is a wrap! ✨We watched the final version of the movie on Monday and gave our final approval on the project. To say it looks, feels, plays and sounds beautiful is an understatement. It is a wonderful ride, an epic adventure, a thrilling succession of delicious jokes and kickass action, a ridiculously good looking flick that I hope will make some noise…. But for us, this last screening was 93 minutes of vivid memories spanning three and a half years of our lives unfolding in front of our eyes. Memories garnered alongside the best talents in the world, our friends and colleagues from DreamWorks, Universal, Sony Imageworks, our magnificent cast, our sound team at Warner Bros. and our music team led by Daniel Pemberton both at Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios Lyndhurst in London. To try and describe the feeling of gratitude we feel towards every single member of this Bad Guys' team is a lost cause. No words can really express the joy that it is to discover day after day these wonderful designs, animations, pictures, storyboards, final shots, simulations … and watch our ugly duckling of a movie turn into a beautiful swan in their expert hands. It is a truly precious gift that we will cherish forever. This movie is as heartwarming and head spinning as a toot in a spacesuit. And despite all the technical difficulties, the budget limitations, the maddening schedules and the sheer size of it all, everyone rolled up their sleeves and no one never ever fell short of greatness. From the bottom of our hearts, I want to thank everyone who contributed to making this possible. It's been a true honor working with you. You are and will forever be my Dream Team. ❤️✨🙏🏻 @dreamworks @universalpictures @badguysmovie @imageworksvfx @abbeyroadstudios @airstudioslyndhurst @jpsans @the_damonross #animation #film #badguys #movie #fun #wrapup #theend #gratitude #happy #thankyou #dreamteam #thebest". Retrieved May 15, 2025 – via Instagram. [better source needed]
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