After the first film's release, a sequel was announced in February 2017, with Kendrick and Timberlake returning to their roles. Much of the new cast was signed from May 2018 to June 2019. The custom marking animation to promote the film was provided by Minimo VFX andJellyfish Pictures.
Trolls World Tour was released byUniversal Pictures in the United States in a limited number of theaters on April 10, 2020, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic and wassimultaneously released onvideo on demand.AMC Theatres subsequently announced they would no longer distribute the studio's films, though this was later reversed after AMC and Universal agreed on a new contract.[7][8][9][10] The film received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel,Trolls Band Together, was released in 2023.
In the techno kingdom, King Trollex's tribe ofTechno Trolls are attending arave, whenHard Rock Trolls led by Queen Barb arrive and use weaponized guitars to destroy everything. Queen Barb demands Trollex surrender and hand over his "string".
In Pop Village, two years after the events of thefirst film, Poppy receives a letter from Barb, inviting her to bring her "string" to unite the trolls. Poppy's father King Peppy explains there were once six magicallyre strings that represented major tribes of music - Techno,Funk,Classical,Country, Hard Rock, andPop, but the six tribes took their strings and went their separate ways after their differences broke into arguments. King Peppy, Branch, and the others do not trust Barb's invitation, but Poppy decides to sneak out with the Pop string, to prove Barb is the same as any other troll. Branch, who is trying to confess his love, and Biggie, who stowed away, accompany her on her journey. At the same time, Cooper finds old illustrations of trolls his shape, and sets off to find them alone, eventually getting beamed up into a spaceship.
Meanwhile, Barb sendsbounty hunters of smaller music genres to find Poppy, promising to spare the tribe of the successful one. Poppy's group soon arrive at the ruins of the Classical tribe's town, Symphonyville and meet a sentient flute named Pennywhistle, who tells them that Barb wants to forcefully unite all trolls under Rock. Poppy and her group then head to Lonesome Flats to warn thecentaur-like Country Trolls. Poppy feels their music is too downbeat and decides to try to cheer them up first, despite Branch's reservations. The Pop Trolls wind up imprisoned, but are rescued by a smooth-talking Country Troll named Hickory. After being chased by the Country Trolls to a ravine, Hickory builds the group a raft to take them to Vibe City to warn the Funk Trolls. They encounter Chaz, aSmooth Jazz troll, who paralyzes them with his music, until Hickory, using gumdropearplugs to remainimmune, drives him off. Angry that Poppy broke an earlier promise to keep him safe, Biggie decides to leave the group.
The group reaches Vibe City, which turns out to be the spaceship that took Cooper. They reunite with Cooper, who reveals that he is actually the long-lost son of King Quincy and Queen Essence of the Funk Trolls, and twin brother of their son Prince D. Poppy maintains all trolls are the same, but Prince D explains that Pop Trolls once tried to unite all trolls under Pop, causing the initial split. The Hard Rock Trolls attack the ship, and Poppy's group is ejected to safety, accidentally separating from Hickory. After arguing with Poppy over her refusal to listen, Branch walks off and is captured byReggaeton andK-Pop trolls, who fight over him until he convinces them to work together with him against Barb.
A repentant Hickory reveals he is actually aYodeling troll, who disguised himself and his brother Dickory as a centaur to steal Poppy's string. He tells Poppy to run, but Barb arrives and captures her with the Pop string. Meanwhile, Biggie returns home to find Pop Village destroyed and most of its inhabitants kidnapped. Realizing he should have never left Poppy, Biggie rallies his friends to rescue her and they disguise themselves as Hard Rock Trolls.
At Volcano Rock City, Barb forces her captives to attend a concert, where she uses the six strings on her guitar to turn them into Rock Zombies, including Branch when he, the Reggaeton and the K-Pop trolls try to rescue Poppy from a similar fate. Poppy herself seems to have been turned, but then reveals that she used gumdrops to block out the music. She admonishes Barb for being a poor queen by not listening to her people before she smashes Barb's guitar, restoring the zombies, but the strings are destroyed, thus ending music and turning all trolls gray. Foiled, Barb blames Poppy for repeating history and destroying music.
Cooper hears his heartbeat and startsbeatboxing with Prince D, convincing other trolls to make sounds to create a rhythm. Poppy leads everyone into singing together from their hearts, restoring their music and colors, including Barb, who accepts Poppy's offer of friendship, while Branch finally confesses his feelings for Poppy, and the trolls all return to Pop Village to celebrate.
Betsy Sodaro as Clampers, a young Country Troll who lives in Delta Dawn's hair and has huge teeth
Marcella Lentz-Pope as Carol, a seasoned Hard Rock Troll who is often seen eating cheese from aspray can.
Berenice Amador and Jamila Hache as Marimba and Tambora, two of the Reggaeton Trolls
Justin McElroy,Travis McElroy, andGriffin McElroy as Skyscraper Troll, a four-headed Pop Troll where three of his heads are sticking out of his hair alongside the heads' associated arms[12]
Justin McElroy also voices a Techno Beat-Drop button that is loyal to King Trollex and atumbleweed in Country Troll territory
In March 2017, podcasters theMcElroy brothers began campaigning for roles in the film via a podcast titled "The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2".[14] Following the campaign's success, DreamWorks confirmed in September 2018 that the McElroy brothers would make cameo appearances inWorld Tour.[15]
Universal Pictures had originally planned to releaseTrolls World Tour theatrically in the United States on April 10, 2020.[22] It was later pushed up to February 14, 2020, before being pushed back to April 17, 2020. Following the delay ofNo Time to Die, it was once again pushed up to the original April 10 release date.[13][23] It was also set to be released on March 20 in the United Kingdom, but due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, its release date was pushed back to April 6.[24]
On March 17, Universal announced that the film would be released simultaneously in theaters and fordigital rental on April 10 in the United States and Canada due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[25][4] By then,Trolls World Tour had only been released in Russia,[26] Singapore, and Malaysia.[27] Other films distributed by the studio, such asThe Invisible Man andThe Hunt were also releaseddigitally before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run.[28][25] The film was the first from Universal to receive a simultaneous theatrical and pay television release since 1983'sThe Pirates of Penzance.[29]
As the lockdown measures receded, the film was released in threeSantikos Theatres locations inSan Antonio, Texas on May 1, 2020.[30] Theatres inHong Kong also started to show the film a week later on May 8, 2020.[31] In Russia the film was made available inIMAX cinemas.[32] In Austria and the Netherlands, it was released in both4DX andDolby Cinema.[33][34]
Trolls World Tour was made available for an earlydigital purchase on June 23, 2020. The film was released onDVD,Blu-ray, andUltra HD Blu-ray byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment on July 7, 2020. All releases include an original short film entitled "Tiny Diamond Goes Back to School".[35][36] By July 19, the film had totaled $23.6 million worth of DVD and Blu-ray sales. The movie was also available to stream on the streaming service Peacock.[37]
In response to Universal releasing the film without consulting theater owners, as well as comments fromNBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell suggesting that future Universal releases would premiere on streaming simultaneously in theaters,AMC Theatres stated that they would not license films that also premiere at the same time on digital release; "Going forward, AMC will not license any Universal movies in any of our 1,000 theatres globally on these terms."[38]Regal Cinemas followed suit in a statement not just directed at Universal, saying "we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows".[39] However, in July 2020, AMC and Universal announced they had come to a deal to shorten the minimum theatrical window to 17 days (down from the usual 90), and that AMC would receive an undisclosed share of subsequent PVOD sales, resulting in a termination of AMC's ban on Universal's films.[40]
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that some of the cast, including Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake, were not aware of the film's VOD release, and that their representatives were trying to secure the actors' bonuses they would have received had the film performed well theatrically.[41]
A video game set afterTrolls World Tour, titledTrolls: Remix Rescue, was released on October 27, 2023, by DreamWorks Animation and Game Mill Entertainment forPlayStation 4,PlayStation 5,Xbox One,Xbox Series X and Series S,Nintendo Switch, andPC. In this game, Poppy, Branch, and the player character must embark on a quest to save the Troll Kingdom from Chaz the Smooth Jazz Troll when he tries to take over the place by hypnotizing the residents with his saxophone.[42]
Zen Studios released aTrolls pinball table as part of a DreamWorks pack forPinball FX on December 15, 2022.[43] Previously a mobile version was released forZen Pinball Party on Apple Arcade in 2021.[44]
A television series set afterTrolls World Tour, titledTrolls: TrollsTopia was released on November 19, 2020. The series focuses on Poppy building TrollsTopia, a community where all the Troll tribes can live together and learn about each other's cultures.[45]
In the U.S., the film made about $60,000 in its opening weekend from 25drive-in theaters, amid extensivemovie theater closures due to restrictions targeted at the COVID-19 pandemic.[46][47] By May 12, despite no official reports,Deadline Hollywood said media outlets including Box Office Mojo had underreported the figures and estimated the film was approaching $1 million from theatrical grosses.[48] By June 7, Deadline said the film had amassed $3.6 million from the domestic box office, and likely had been the first place film every weekend since its release.[49][50] It continued to play in drive-ins in the following weeks.[51][52]Box Office Mojo reported the domestic gross at only $450,000 and reported the total worldwide gross at $48 million.[6]The-Numbers.com did not count any domestic gross, and put the worldwide total slightly higher at $49 million.[37]
Following its debut digital streaming weekend, it was reported byFandangoNow that the film had set the record for most streams on a release weekend by the company. The film also finished number one forAmazon Prime,Comcast,Apple TV,Vudu,YouTube, andDirecTV, with Universal reporting it was purchased 10-times more than its previous day-one rentalJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which had made $2–3 million on its first day. Altogether, the film made at least $40 million over the weekend.[53] Through the first 19 days of release, it was estimated between three and five million people had streamed the film, resulting in about a $95 million gross ($77 million of which went to Universal, more revenue for the studio than the original film made during its entire theatrical run).[54][55][56] After three months of release the film remained in the top-five across most services, and occasionally returned to the top spot on Amazon Prime, FandangoNow, and iTunes.[57][58] By August,IndieWire estimated the film had made about $150 million from rentals.[59]
Deadline Hollywood estimated that due to the film's approximate $95 million production cost, plus another $30 million spent on marketing (although rival studios claim Universal spent more than that, as high as a normal $80–100 million campaign), the film couldbreak-even if 9–12 million people rent the film, resulting in about $200 million in revenue.[60]The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "in the opinion of some industry veterans, [the film] may never make a dime" although "Universal believes it can make $40 million or more in profit from all revenue sources."[61] In October 2020,The Hollywood Reporter said the film was the second-most popular PVOD title amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, behindMulan.[62]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A fun follow-up for fans of the original,Trolls World Tour offers a second helping of colorful animation, infectious energy, and sing-along songs."[63] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[64]
Owen Gleiberman ofVariety magazine gave it a mixed review, calling it a "music-drenched fairy tale" and "for all its surface pleasures, it's a likable but underimagined one, with more enthusiasm than surprise and, at the same time, an overprogrammed sense of its own thematic destiny."[2]
On April 9, 2020, Timberlake expressed interest in futureTrolls films, saying, "I hope we make, like, seven Trolls movies, because it literally is the gift that keeps on giving".[71] A sequel,Trolls Band Together, was released on November 17, 2023.[72][73]
