Return of the Tiny Men

Return of the Tiny Men is an upcoming 3D animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Spyglass Media Group, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed and written by Gary Trousdale, it is the sequel to Tiny Men in my Backyard (1988) and the second full-length installment of the franchise. It features the voices of Halle Berry, Neil Patrick Harris, Keke Palmer, Clint Eastwood, Megan Good, Hugo Weaving, Amandla Stenberg, Wiz Khalifa, Larenz Tate, Ellen Barkin. Jason Statham, William H. Macy, Amy Irving, and Jim Cummings.

The film will be released in theaters on April 21, 2023 in IMAX and 3D.

Synopsis
35 years later after the events of the first film, Lilly and RJ, now have a nice family and the Tiny Men now live in harmony with the humans, until the minions of Lord Rex, Abhi, Gorath, Frode, revive Blitz Axis, the powerful brother of Lord Rex. With the Kholin being unleashed, Lilly and her gang must stop the revived Blitz Axis from getting the Kholin, a powerful stone which can make the user immune and all powerful.

Cast

 * Halle Berry as Lilly James, a 45 year old woman who is a famous artist and warrior. She was previously voiced by Victoria Dillard in the original film.
 * Neil Patrick Harris as RJ, Lily's husband who is also king.
 * Keke Palmer as Lauren James, Lilly and Rex Jr's 16 year old daughter.
 * Clint Eastwood as Delroy James, Lilly's 94 year old grandpa. He was previously a non-speaking character in the original 1988 film.
 * Megan Good as Crystal Williams, a 16 year old female who is aware of Lauren's family as well as their history. She is also Lauren's best friend.
 * Hugo Weaving as Blitz Axis, the awakened brother of Lord Rex whose more mightier and powerful than Rex himself.
 * Amandla Stenberg as Lois Haywart, a 17 year girl who is Lauren's frenemy.
 * Wiz Khalifa as Dikembe, the teenaged son of Frode.
 * Larenz Tate as Wilson Thomas
 * Ellen Barkin as Frode, the cocky minion of Lord Rex who revived Blitz Axis and the only female in the trio.
 * Jason Statham as Abhi, the slightly aged but fearler former minion of Lord Rex.
 * William H. Macy as Gorath, the dimwitted former minion of Lord Rex.
 * Amy Irving as Christina James, Lilly's 66 year old mother
 * Jim Cummings as Milgen James, Lilly's 68 year old father.
 * Alan Tudyk as Xavierous, a corrupted spirit god.
 * Gary Trousdale as Craven, RJ's smart mouthed assistant.

Development
Shortly after the release of the film in 1989, Gary Trousdale stated that he was open to make a sequel for the film as long as it surpasses the first and if the cast agrees on it However, he also stated that his current focus was on Beauty and the Beast, which was his next film in the director's seat and later The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996 where he later said that the franchise's current focus is on television. The film was later announced to be in development in September 1997 with the cast returning along with a new evil villain that Lilly has to face off. However, this was cancelled in favor of Tarzan being competed as well as Mulan in 1998. Disney later announced that the sequel film would be cancelled due to the studio's focus on theatrical original films.

Resurgence
In February 2016, Trousdale teased that he has a possible script for the sequel to send to Disney but later took back this claim and said that there are still no plans for a sequel. On January 2019, Halle Berry made a post with no caption posting a storyboard version of Lilly teasing that a sequel would be made.

At the Disney shareholder meeting in March 2019, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger confirmed that Disney Animation was working on a Tiny Men sequel, and that Trousdale would return as both director and screenwriter. Trousdale restarted and finished the script around April 2018, and said that the Tiny Men sequel will be in active development. Coming soon!

Writing
Coming soon!

Casting
In November 2020, Disney announced that Neil Patrick Harris and Amy Irving would reprise their roles. Throughout February through April 2021, it was confirmed that Gary Trousdale and Jim Cummings would reprise their roles, along with Halle Berry being announced to voice Lilly James, replacing original voice actor Victoria Dillard who retired in 2008.

Coming soon!

Animation
One advantage that Disney had with Return of the TIny Men was the advancement of technology the company had seen since the original traditionally animated film and a team of much more experienced animators. Producer Clark Spencer said, "The original film was during the wildy famous Disney Renaissance era of our company's history so of course we would have to bring back that feeling of a Disney film as well as having our updated animation bring characters into 3D flesh. The film will smoothly transition into computer-animation thanks to our updated systems with as much textures as we can show." Because Disney fazed out most of the 2D animation team and workers, animators had to redraw and recreate the looks of characters from scratch. The studio also brought some of the older animators from the original 1988 film to give the newer animators tips as well as using physically based human eye models for the characters for the first time, which possibly made the eyes larger and more stylized than that of real humans.

Coming soon!

Music
In 2022, Trousdale confirmed that Aaron Zigman would compose the score for the film.

Marketing
A first look for the movie was released on September 1, 2022 under YouTube and D23. On September 21, 2022, the first official trailer for the film was released as well as various character posters which all shown the characters transition into computer-animation. The trailer received 212.2 million views within the first 24 hours, the biggest for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film.Commentators praised the animation of the poster as well as the trailer calling it a good transition into computer-animation from a 2D animated predecessor.

The second trailer was released on December 6, 2022, revealing more characters of the film with Disney releasing a 2 minute clip on their YouTube from the film.

Release
Return of the Tiny Men is set to be theatrically released on April 21, 2023 in conventional 3D and IMAX formats.