‘Angry Birds’ Movie Cast Revealed

Angry Birds
Angry Birds, the massively successful mobile gaming franchise — created by Finnish developer Rovio Entertainment — has an inevitable film version in the works.

That’s not surprising. What is surprising is that it took this long to happen, perhaps, but also that the voice cast that’s been assembled for the flick is intensely promising.

Slated for July 2016 release, the animated flick will feature the voices of current and past SNL cast members Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Jason Sudeikis, and Kate McKinnon. As well as East Bound and Down‘s Danny McBride, Game of ThronesPeter Dinklage, Josh Gad, and Keegan-Michael Key.

For a 48-hour period, fans were given the opportunity to learn who was in the film’s voice cast, as well as see a sneak preview, by “slinging one billion birds” in the game.

Rovio‘s site summarizes the plot, in part, as such:

Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses, last year’s comedy hit We’re the Millers) will lead the cast as Red, a bird with a temper problem. Josh Gad, in his first animated role since the global smash hit Frozen, plays speedy Chuck, and Danny McBride (This is the End, Eastbound & Down) portrays the volatile Bomb. Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) has joined the pork side, Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids, The Maya Rudolph Show) will play Matilda, and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past) will play the legendary Mighty Eagle.

In the supporting roles, Keegan-Michael Key (Comedy Central’s Key & Peele), Kate McKinnon (Emmy nominee for Saturday Night Live), Tony Hale (Emmy winner for Veep, Arrested Development), Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors, The Mindy Project), Hannibal Buress (Broad City, Neighbors), Cristela Alonzo (ABC’s upcoming Cristela), Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Grammy nominee and Latin music sensation Romeo Santos, and YouTube stars Smosh (Ian Andrew Hecox and Anthony Padilla), who have over 30 million YouTube subscribers, will bring an extra kick to this angry flock.

We see no reason to be particularly cynical about this, as stranger source material has inspired worthwhile things before.

For contrast, below we provide this massively viral internet video, from a few years back, proposing a perhaps different take on the same subject matter.