Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment officially finalized the release dates of three of their highly successful animated films.

Variety announced in late January that "Sing," the December 2016-released animated musical comedy film, managed to earn $488 million worldwide. The star-studded cast comprising Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Seth MacFarlane, Tori Kelly, John C. Reilly, and Taron Egerton provided the voices to a group of animals that joined a singing competition. Its success prompted the film outfit to develop a sequel that is slated to release in Christmas 2020.

But prior to the release of "Sing 2," Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment will first release the sequel of "The Secret Life of Pets."

According to reports, the studios initially planned to release "The Secret Life of Pets 2" on July 3, 2018. It will be under the direction of original filmmaker Chris Renaud, producers Janet Healy and Chris Meledandri, as well as one of the original writers Brian Lynch. However, the film's release date has to be postponed until July 3, 2019.

"Minions" is another widely successful computer-animated comedy film for the two film outfits that will also have a sequel of its own.

The spin-off/prequel of the "Despicable Me" animation fim franchise was first released in July 10, 2015. It managed to outgross all the "Despicable Me" movies after earning more than $1.1 billion around the world, which makes it the 11th highest-grossing film of all time and the most successful non-Disney animated movie.

The animated film features critically acclaimed actress Sandra Bullock as the highly ambitious supervillain named Scarlet Overkill, while renowned French animator Pierre Coffin lent his voice to the Minions named Stuart, Kevin, and Bob. Steve Carrell also reprised his role as the cold-hearted Gru from the "Despicable Me" franchise.

However, there are no reports yet if Bullock will return to "Minions 2," which is scheduled to debut in theaters on July 3, 2020.