Kid Cudi Joins Voice Cast of Trolls Threequel “Trolls Band Together”

Kid Cudi is on a t(roll)

The 39-year-old half-Mexican American rapper, singer, songwriter record producer and actor has joined the voice cast of Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation’s next Trolls film.

Kid Cudi The studios have unveiled the official title for the third film in their hit animated musical franchise, which opens in theaters nationwide on November 17.

Returning to lead the threequel, Trolls Band Together, as expected, are Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick.

In addition to Kid Cudi, others set for the film include Eric André, Daveed Diggs, Troye SivanCamila Cabello, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells, RuPaul Charles, Zosia Mamet, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Icona Pop collaborators Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt, Anderson .Paak, Ron Funches , Kunal Nayyar and Kenan Thompson.

Trolls is a jukebox musical franchise that has thus far grossed over $396M worldwide between 2016’s Trolls, which landed a Best Original Song Oscar nom for the Timberlake-voiced pop hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” and 2020’s somewhat pandemic-hampered Trolls World Tour.

The new film will pick up with trolls Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) after two films of true friendship and relentless flirting, at a point when they’re now officially, finally, a couple (#broppy)! As they grow closer, Poppy discovers that Branch has a secret past. He was once part of her favorite boyband phenomenon, BroZone, with his four brothers: Floyd (Sivan), John Dory (André), Spruce (Diggs) and Clay (Cudi).

BroZone disbanded when Branch was still a baby, as did the family, and Branch hasn’t seen his brothers since. But when Branch’s bro Floyd is kidnapped for his musical talents by a pair of nefarious pop-star villains —Velvet (Schumer) and Veneer (Rannells) — Branch and Poppy embark on a harrowing and emotional journey to reunite the other brothers and rescue Floyd from a fate even worse than pop-culture obscurity.

Walt Dohrn returned to direct Trolls Band Together after helming both past installments, with Trolls World Tour’s head of story Tim Heitz coming aboard as co-director, and Gina Shay returning as producer.

Anthony Ramos to Star in “Trolls” Half-Hour Animated Musical Special “Trolls Holiday in Harmony”

Anthony Ramos is about to let it troll….

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican actor/singer has joined the voice cast of Trolls Holiday in Harmony, starring Trolls alums Anna KendrickJustin TimberlakeKenan Thompson and Rachel Bloom.

Anthony Ramos

The new half-hour animated musical special hails from the DreamWorks Animation franchise set on NBC.

Other Trolls alums joining the cast include Ron Funches, Kunal Nayyar, Anderson .Paak, Ester Dean, Walt Dohrn, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Karan Soni.

The special will air on Friday, November 26 at 9:00 pm on NBC.

In the special, as the holidays near, Queen Poppy (Kendrick) plans the first annual Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap. Things take an unexpected turn, however, when she and Branch (Timberlake) draw each other’s name. Meanwhile, Tiny Diamond (Thompson) comes down with a bad case of writers’ block trying to think of a special holiday rap for his dad.

The special, which includes four original songs, is written and directed by Sean Charmatz and Tim Heitz with Gina Shay and Walt Dohrn serving as the executive producers.

The Trolls DreamWorks Animation franchise includes the 2016 film Trolls and 2020’s Trolls World Tour starring Kendrick, Timberlake, among others, as well as two original TV series, digital content, videos games and more.

Following its premiere on NBC, Trolls Holiday in Harmony, will be available for purchase on digital and DVD November 30 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. A digital soundtrack for the special will be released by RCA Records on November 26 to coincide with the special airing on NBC.

Stephanie Beatriz Joins Voice Cast of Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”

Stephanie Beatriz has landed a Sweet role… 

The 37-year-oldArgentine actress and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star has joined the voice cast of Warner Bros.’ The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part alongside Broad City‘s Arturo Castro.

Stephanie Beatriz

Beatriz will portray new character Sweet Mayhem; Castro will play new character Ice Cream Cone.

Also confirmed to return is Alison Brie as Unikitty and Nick Offerman as Metal Beard.

They join previously announced cast members from the first movie Chris Pratt (Emmet), Elizabeth Banks (Lucy), Will Arnett (Lego Batman) as well as Tiffany Haddish who plays a new character Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi.

Mike Mitchell, of Shrek Forever AfterTrolls, and Sky High directs.

Lego Movie 2 is being produced by the same team behind the Lego film franchise since the first feature title debuted in 2014. That film racked up $469M at the global box office.

The Lego Movie 2 reunites the heroes of Bricksburg and takes place five years after the first movie. They face a new threat: Lego Duplo invaders from outer space, wrecking everything faster than they can rebuild. The battle to defeat them and restore harmony to the Lego universe will take Emmet, Lucy, Batman and their friends to faraway, unexplored and musical worlds.

Lego Movie 2 opens nationwide in 2D and 3D on February 8., 2019.

Miranda Receives First Oscar Nomination for His Work on Disney’s “Moana”

Lin-Manuel Miranda is thisclose to making history…

The 37-year-old Puerto Rican actor, playwright, composer, rapper, and writer, best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights, has picked up his first Oscar nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Miranda, the recipient of an Emmy, two Grammys and three Tony Awards, earned the recognition for his musical work on the Disney animated film Moana. He’s responsible for the music and lyrics for the track “How Far I’ll Go,” which is nominated in the Best Original Song category.

Should he win, Miranda will become the youngest member of the EGOT club (recipients of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), replacing Robert Lopez, who completed his quartet in 2014 with a best original song win for Frozen’s “Let It Go.”

He’d be only the second Latino to join the club, following in the footsteps of fellow Puerto Rican multi-faceted artist Rita Moreno.

But Miranda faces stiff competition… “How Far I’ll Go” is up against two songs from Oscar frontrunner La La Land, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” and Golden Globe-winner “City of Stars,” as well as Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from Trolls and Sting’s “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story.

Miranda isn’t the only Latino nominee this year…

Like Miranda, Juanjo Gimenez has also picked up his first nomination. The 53-year-old Spanish filmmaker is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film for “Timecode.”

The short film picked up the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Rodrigo Prieto has picked up the second Oscar nod of his career… The 51-year-old Mexican cinematographer is nominated in the Best Cinematography category for his work on Martin Scorsese’s Silence.

Prieto was previously nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, losing the prize to Dion Beebe’s Memoirs of a Geisha.

Other Latino nominees include Richard Alonzo for Best Makeup and Hair for his work on Star Trek Beyond and Adam Valdez for Best Visual Effects for his work on The Jungle Book.

The 89th annual Academy Awards will take place on February 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Here’s the full list of nominees:

Best picture:
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”

Lead actor:
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land,”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”

Lead actress:
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”

Supporting actor:
Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Supporting actress:
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Best director:
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
“Arrival,” Denis Villeneuve 

Animated feature:
“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
“Moana,” John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
“My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras and Max Karli
“The Red Turtle,” Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
“Zootopia,” Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

Animated short:
“Blind Vaysha,” Theodore Ushev
“Borrowed Time,” Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes,” Robert Valley and Cara Speller
“Pearl,” Patrick Osborne
“Piper,” Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

Adapted screenplay:
“Arrival,” Eric Heisserer
“Fences,” August Wilson
“Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
“Lion,” Luke Davies
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney 

Original screenplay:
“20th Century Women,” Mike Mills
“Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan

Cinematography:
“Arrival,” Bradford Young
“La La Land,” Linus Sandgren
“Lion,” Greig Fraser
“Moonlight,” James Laxton
“Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto

Best documentary feature:
“13th,” Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish
“Fire at Sea,” Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
“I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck
“Life, Animated,” Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
“O.J.: Made in America,” Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

Best documentary short subject:
“4.1 Miles,” Daphne Matziaraki
“Extremis,” Dan Krauss
“Joe’s Violin,” Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
“Watani: My Homeland,” Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
“The White Helmets,” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Best live action short film:
“Ennemis Interieurs,” Selim Azzazi
“La Femme et le TGV,” Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
“Silent Nights,” Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
“Sing,” Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
“Timecode,” Juanjo Gimenez

Best foreign language film:
“A Man Called Ove,” Sweden
“Land of Mine,” Denmark
“Tanna,” Australia
“The Salesman,” Iran
“Toni Erdmann,” Germany

Film editing:
“Arrival,” Joe Walker
“Hacksaw Ridge,” John Gilbert
“Hell or High Water,” Jake Roberts
“La La Land,” Tom Cross
“Moonlight,” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Sound editing:
“Arrival,” Sylvain Bellemare
“Deep Water Horizon,” Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
“La La Land,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
“Sully,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Sound mixing:
“Arrival,” Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
“La La Land,” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth 

Production design:
“Arrival,” Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock
“Hail, Caesar!,” Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
“La La Land,” David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
“Passengers,” Guy Hendrix Dyas, Gene Serdena 

Original score:
“Jackie,” Mica Levi
“La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz
“Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
“Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell
“Passengers,” Thomas Newman

Original song:
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Trolls” — Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
“City of Stars,” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” — Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
“How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana” Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Makeup and hair:
“A Man Called Ove,” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
“Star Trek Beyond,” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo
“Suicide Squad,” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson 

Costume design:
“Allied,” Joanna Johnston
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Colleen Atwood
“Florence Foster Jenkins,” Consolata Boyle
“Jackie,” Madeline Fontaine
“La La Land,” Mary Zophres 

Visual effects:
“Deepwater Horizon,” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
“Doctor Strange,” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
“The Jungle Book,” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon
“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould