Return of the Tiny Men

Return of the Tiny Men is an upcoming 3D animated action-adventure fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is intended to be a sequel to the 1988 film Tiny Men in my Backyard. The film will be directed by Gary Trousdale returning from the original along with Trousdale, Matthew O'Callaghan and Richard Rich returning from the original to write the film while featuring the voices of Halle Berry, replacing Victoria Dillard, along with Jim Cummings, Amy Irving, Neil Patrick Harris, and Ellen Barkin all reprising their roles from the original film and features the new voices of Keke Palmer, Amandla Stenberg, Clint Eastwood, Hugo Weaving, Wiz Khalifa, Larenz Tate, Megan Good, Alan Tudyk, and Jason Statham. The film focuses on Lilly and RJ who now have a teenage daughter stopping Blitz Axis, the legendary older brother of Lord Rex, who was resurrected, from getting the powers of the Kholin, the most powerful stone in the world.

Following the success of Tiny Men in my Backyard, Trousdale postponed development on a sequel in favor of working on Beauty and the Beast as well as Aladdin, The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The script went through various changes as well as various moments where Disney put the film in development hell until the film's production finally began in 2017. Due to the retirement of these actors, Victoria Dillard, Josef Sommer, and Michael DeLuise weren't able to return to reprise their roles and were subsequently replaced by Halle Berry, Jason Statham, and William H. Macy respectively while the rest of the cast members were slated to return.

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

Synopsis
In 2023, 35 years after the events of Tiny Men in my Backyard (1988), Lilly and RJ who are now married with a daughter named Lauren while the Tiny Men live in peace with the humans, find out that Lord Rex's old minions Frode, Abhi, and Gorath, have escaped Hell and awakens the long lost legendary brother of Rex, Blitz Axis where Lilly and her family as well as friends must stop him and the minions from getting the power of the Kholin stone, which is capable of destroying the world.

Cast

 * Halle Berry as Lilly James, a 45 year old woman who is a famous artist as well as a former martial artist and adventurer. She was previously voiced by Victoria Dillard in the original film.
 * Neil Patrick Harris as RJ, Lily's husband who is also the king of Tinyland.
 * Ellen Barkin as Frode, one of Lord Rex's former henchmen who is now a henchman for Blitz Axis.
 * Keke Palmer as Lauren James, Lilly and RJ's 16 year old daughter.
 * Amandla Stenberg as Isadora, a 17 year old female who is Lauren's classmate and frenemy.
 * Megan Good as Amaya Watts, Lauren's 17 year old best friend.
 * Clint Eastwood as Herbert John James, the 95 year old grandfather of Lilly who was a former adventurer. Herbert was previously in the original film as a muted character.
 * Hugo Weaving as Blitz Axis, the recently resurrected brother of Lord Rex who wants the powers of the Kholin.
 * Jason Statham as Abhi, one of the former henchmen of Lord Rex. He was previously voiced by Josef Sommer in the original film.
 * Amy Irving as Christina James, Lilly's 71 year old mother.
 * William H. Macy as Gorath, a dimwitted yet resourceful warrior who's one of the former henchmen of Lord Rex. He was previously voiced by Michael DeLuise in the original film.
 * Alan Tudyk as Sir William, a royal servant who fall into RJ's royal family tree.
 * Jim Cummings as Milgen James, Lilly's 73 year old father.
 * Gary Trousdale as Craven, RJ's smart mouthed assistant.

Additionally Wiz Khalifa and Larenz Tate have been cast in disclosed roles.

Development
Following Tiny Men in my Backyard, Gary Trousdale directed his next film for Disney, Beauty and the Beast, which was released in November 1991. During the red-carpet premiere of the film, Trousdale stated that he was open to direct and write a sequel film as long as it turns out better than the original film. In 1992, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution announced that the sequel is currently in development with the main cast members slated to return along with Trousdale returning to direct along with the writing team. However, in November of that same year, the film was cancelled in favor of Trousdale developing another film which would later be The Hunchback of Notre Dame released in 1996. In 2018, interest in a sequel was revived with Trousdale reiterated interest in a sequel stating that "I have been thinking about this sequel for decades. Despite my current venture at Dreamworks Animation, I still want this sequel to be made no matter what."

Later in August 2018, CEO of Disney Bob Iger later confirmed that a sequel is in current development although Iger stated that "it's doubtful that Trousdale can return due to his venture at DreamWorks." In 2019, Trousdale left DreamWorks and confirmed that he's returning to direct the sequel.

Writing
One trouble in the writing process of the sequel was where to set the story whether directly after the events of the previous or years later. Trousdale noted that the majority of the cast grew out of the age of their roles where Trousdale later decided to set the film 35 years later. To develop the sequel as a legacy sequel, Trousdale observed various legacy sequels such as The Color of Money (1986), Tron: Legacy (2010), Creed (2015), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) to observe how those films made up for the long absence of the characters by making them evolve as well as getting tips from Brad Bird for writing a long-awaited sequel after his success in Incredibles 2 for Pixar with Bird suggesting an ellipsis while putting more of a focus on family values along with stopping the evil villain of the film.

Trousdale also found it easier to write Lilly James as a mother as well as aging the other characters while giving her a daughter which can allow a family dynamic to be shown in the film as well.

Casting
In July 2019, it was announced that Neil Patrick Harris and Amy Irving were confirmed to reprise their roles. During the 2019 D23 Expo, it was confirmed that Ellen Barkin and Jim Cummings would also reprise their roles, and that Victoria Dillard, the original voice of Lilly James, would be replaced by Halle Berry due to Dillard's retirement from acting. Berry later revealed that she initially audition to be Lilly but Dillard ending up winning the role. That same day, Gary Trousdale was also announced to reprise his role of Craven as well. Trousdale stated that it was either "all or none" of the surviving and active actors in order to proceed with the development of the film due to the plot that he was going for and declined recasting the roles.

In November 2019, Disney announced that Keke Palmer and Hugo Weaving had joined the cast. In January 2020, it was announced that Amanda Stenberg, Clint Eastwood and Wiz Khalifa had joined the cast as well with Eastwood being cast after Trousdale watched Space Cowboys (2000) as well as The Mule (2018). By January 2022, Larenz Tate had joined the cast.

In September 2022, it was announced that Jason Statham's role in the film is Abhi after the character's original voice actor Josef Sommer retired from acting in 2010 while William H. Macy was cast as Gorath replacing Michael DeLuise due to his retirement in 2010. Eastwood's role was revealed to be Herbert John James on September 26, 2022; Herbert was an non-speaking character in the original film. Alan Tudyk was later added to the cast on November 8, 2022, voicing a new character named Sir William.

Animation
Due to the film being released 35 years after the original, animation has since advanced and allowed Trousdale as well as a team of much more experienced animators to animate more freely. The film will be animated in-house at Walt Disney Animation Studios and will be animated in stylized computer-animation mixed with computer-cel animation similar to another legacy sequel Detective Carl Returns and Disney's own Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Since the animation technology had evolved so much since the original film's release, all the characters had to be made from scratch while reference previous concept art of the film from 1986 while trying to keep the style as similar to the traditionally animated style from the previous film. The film is animated in a combination of computer-animation along with traditional animation. Disney also used based human eye models as well as more realistic backgrounds for the film compared to the original film while giving all the characters a more enhanced and glossy look while also having Mark Henn return from the previous film to be the supervising animator for Lilly as well. The film was also rendered using Disney's Hyperion Renderer with additional rendering by Pixar's Renderman.

Music
In 2022, Trousdale confirmed that Aaron Zigman would compose the score for the film. On November 8, 2022, singer SZA announced that she would be making an original song for the film as well.

Promotion
A first look for the movie was released on September 9, 2022 during the 2022 D23 Expo with teaser trailer later released on September 21, 2022 and received 205.5 million views within the first 24 hours, the most for a film released by Walt Disney Pictures. The trailer received praise from commentators for the good transition of animating the characters from their original traditional animation in the original to computer-animation. Disney also opted to go for a spoiler-free marketing method like their films under Marvel Studios.

Merchandise
On September 16, 2022, Disney confirmed that a Lego game based on the original movie and this film would be made.

Release
Return of the Tiny Men is set to be theatrically released on April 21, 2023 in conventional Disney Digital 3D and IMAX formats. The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 7, 2023 but was moved up to March 24, 2023 to avoid competition with Universal and Illumination's Super Mario film and later moved to it's current release date, taking over Hyper 's old release date.