Villains (2023 film)

Villains is an upcoming American adult animated superhero comedy film directed by Seth MacFarlane in his animation directing debut as well as being written by MacFarlane, Mike Henry, and Alec Sulkin. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Christian Bale, Seth MacFarlane, John Mulaney, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, Ali Wong, Alex Borstein, Morgan Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rami Malek, Zendaya, Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle, Terry Crews, Bill Burr, and Jonah Hill.

The film is scheduled to be released on November 10, 2023 in Dolby Cinema and IMAX formats by Lionsgate.

Synopsis
A former superhero decides to create a new supervillain after a scientist creates Securetron, superpowered robots who stop attackers, which puts superheroes out of a job.

Cast

 * Christian Bale as Joshua Williams / Pigman, a ill-fated middle aged superhero who dreams of fighting another bad guy while looking back at his glory in the past. He is a parody of Bruce Wayne / Batman who Bale ironically played.
 * Seth MacFarlane
 * John Mulaney
 * Kevin Hart
 * Ali Wong
 * Alex Borstein
 * Morgan Freeman as the voice of the Securetron robots.
 * Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein, a scientist who is the creator of Securetron.
 * Rami Malek as Paul / Thunderbolt
 * Zendaya
 * Lady Gaga
 * Dave Chappelle
 * Terry Crews
 * Bill Burr
 * Jonah Hill

Production
In August 2019, Seth MacFarlane signed a first-look deal with Universal Pictures. However, after MacFarlane sent the script of Villains to get it accepted by DreamWorks Pictures but dropped by Universal, DreamWorks made a deal with Lionsgate to distribute a untitled adult animated superhero film. Production began in 2021, where the cast was announced as well as Jonah Hill signing on by late 2021. Animation for the film will be provided by Mikro Images. It was also announced that the film would be released in 3D as well.

Release
Villains is scheduled to be released on November 10, 2023 by Lionsgate in Dolby Cinema and IMAX.

Marketing
The film's first official trailer was released on December 13, 2022. Lionsgate revealed versions of the trailer in English along with dubbed versions in Spanish, French, Italian and German. It soon became the top trending video on YouTube, and a top trending topic on Twitter, while inspiring numerous internet memes and reaction videos.