‘The Angry Birds Movie 3’ Trailer: Keke Palmer and Jisoo’s ‘Sun Showers’ Lead Paramount’s Holiday Push
Keke Palmer, Sam Richardson and Psalm West lend their voices as Paramount’s second trailer and new key art kick off the holiday push for Red’s leap into fatherhood, the franchise’s first film in seven years.
By Black Film Wire Staff
Paramount Pictures has released a new trailer and poster for The Angry Birds Movie 3, and this time the music leads. The trailer debuts "Sun Showers," an original song co-written and performed by BLACKPINK's Jisoo. It follows the first trailer from early summer, which introduced Red as a new dad raising three hatchlings and unveiled the voice cast. With about seven weeks to go, this second spot shifts the campaign into its holiday push. The film opens only in theaters on December 23, 2026.
The Angry Birds Movie 3 | Official Trailer 2 featuring “Sun Showers” by Jisoo. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures]
Red has saved Bird Island twice. Now he has to do it again while raising three hatchlings. The studio’s tagline puts it simply: “Saving the world is a family affair.” Behind the scenes, it’s also a franchise trying to get its wings back.
1. The cast, and three Black voices worth watching
The returning core cast is Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso, Horrible Bosses) as Red, Josh Gad (Frozen, Beauty and the Beast) as Chuck, Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down, The Righteous Gemstones) as Bomb and Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Trolls World Tour) as Silver. Around them, Paramount has stacked a deep new ensemble, and three of the names matter to our readers.
Keke Palmer (Nope, Hustlers) gets "with" billing at the end of the credits, alongside Lily James. That's a placement usually saved for a marquee name, even though her role has not been revealed yet.
Sam Richardson (Veep, The Afterparty) was born in Detroit to a Ghanaian mother and an African-American father. He spent his childhood traveling between Detroit and Ghana, where his maternal grandfather was a chief. Here he reunites on screen with his Detroiters co-creator Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave), who voices Porkchop. Richardson's character is also still under wraps.
Seven-year-old Psalm West, the youngest son of Kim Kardashian and Ye, makes his acting and voice debut as Olly, Red and Silver's hatchling son. "He has the cutest voice," Kardashian said on The Kardashians.
And honestly? We love this for him. There's something special about a little Black boy at the front of a holiday family film, voicing the baby of the flock. Somewhere this Christmas, a seven-year-old in a too-big theater seat will hear Olly and not know yet why it feels familiar. Then he'll realize the voice sounds like him. Yes, little boy. Fly.
The rest of the new cast reads like a map of where young audiences spend their time: Emma Myers (Wednesday), Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Marcello Hernández (Saturday Night Live), Anna Cathcart (XO, Kitty), Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever), Nikki Glaser, James Austin Johnson, YouTube's MrBeast and creator Salish Matter. That is deliberate casting for four-quadrant reach, from streaming teens to YouTube kids.
2. How we got here: Angry Birds 1 and 2
The Angry Birds Movie (2016) turned a 2009 mobile game into a real box office win. It grossed about $352 million worldwide on a $73 million budget, opening at number one in North America with $38 million.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019) is widely considered the better film, but it was the weaker business. It opened in the middle of August and finished at roughly $148 million worldwide on a $65 million budget, less than half of what the original made.
Rovio and Sega point out that the two films together passed $500 million worldwide and have kept performing on streaming. That long life at home is a big part of why a third film exists at all.
3. Why Paramount, and why Christmas?
Sony distributed both earlier films. Sega, the Japanese video game giant behind Sonic the Hedgehog, bought Rovio and the Angry Birds brand in 2023. In April 2025, Paramount took over distribution. Paramount already releases Sega’s Sonic films, so the move keeps the new owner’s game properties at one studio.
Paramount first dated the film for January 29, 2027. It has since moved it up to December 23, 2026, which puts it in the holiday window where family films make the most money. India gets it on January 1, 2027. John Rice, who co-directed the second film, directs from a screenplay by Thurop Van Orman. The producers are John Cohen, Dan Chuba, Carla Connor and Namit Malhotra, with Malhotra's Prime Focus on board.
4. The Black Film Wire’s take:
This trailer is the clearest look yet at how studios now build a family tentpole. The bird is the same, but the strategy around him has been rebuilt: a holiday date, a K-pop single for global reach, a YouTube star for kids, and a cast list that cuts across race, platform and generation. For Black talent, the takeaway is that Palmer and Richardson aren’t there to fill a diversity slot. They’re there because their names mean something to audiences. We’ll be watching to see how much screen time the film actually gives them when the roles are revealed.
And then there’s Psalm. That incredible raspy little voice is already the scene-stealer of this campaign, and we suspect Olly is about to become a lot of kids’ favorite bird. Cute doesn’t begin to cover it.
Who’s behind the flock?
Paramount Pictures presents The Angry Birds Movie 3 in association with Rovio Entertainment Ltd., One Cool Group, Dentsu and Flywheel Media. It’s a Prime Focus / John Cohen Production. The official logline: “This holiday season, one angry bird will face his greatest challenge yet, surviving fatherhood… while saving the world!”
John Rice directs from a screenplay by Thurop Van Orman. John Cohen, Dan Chuba, Carla Connor and Namit Malhotra produce. Louis Koo, Toru Nakahara, Ben Mattes, Hanna Valkeapää-Nokkala, Crosby Clyse, Chris Pflug, Simon Hedges, Christopher Milburn, Jamey Heath, Paul Kang, Geneva Wasserman and Cathy Boxall serve as executive producers.
The voice cast features Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Emma Myers, Rachel Bloom, Walker Scobell, Danny McBride, Marcello Hernández, Tim Robinson, Anna Cathcart, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Nikki Glaser, MrBeast, Salish Matter, Psalm West, Sam Richardson and James Austin Johnson, with Lily James and Keke Palmer.
The Angry Birds Movie 3 flies into theaters only on December 23, 2026.
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