‘Wreck-It Ralph’ will leave the arcade and wreck the Internet in 2018

On Thursday, Walt Disney Animation Studios announced it is making a sequel to “Wreck-It Ralph” – and the news wrecked Facebook.

In an attempt to stay up to date in the world of social media, Disney took to Facebook Live to reveal that a second “Wreck-It Ralph” film is slated to open on March 9, 2018 (pushing Disney’s Jack and the Beanstalk movie “Gigantic” back to Nov. 21, 2018).

But after co-directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston revealed the release date, the live feed froze – just as star John C. Reilly was about to discuss the film’s plot.

Not that he shared much, anyway. A few minutes later, the studio posted the uninterrupted announcement on its Facebook feed, and Reilly said only that in the sequel, “Ralph leaves the arcade and wrecks the Internet.”

Moore, one of the director’s of this year’s hit “Zootopia,” elaborated on the story in a subsequent press release: “This time, Ralph’s wrecking wreaks havoc on the Web – as only he can do.”

“The world of the Internet is the perfect place to send Ralph,” added Johnston. “The scope and scale are so vast and the possibilities for comedy are endless.”

The original film, which came out in 2012, followed the video game character as he attempted to change his reputation from villain to hero. Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Mindy Kaling also lent their voices to the picture, which collected $471 million at the global box office.

While that’s certainly a lot of money, “Wreck-It Ralph” is far from the most popular animated Disney franchise. Earlier this year, “Zootopia” grossed over $1 billion worldwide, just as “Frozen” did in 2013. The studio last year announced a sequel to “Frozen,” as well, though a release date has yet to be set.

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