Illumination has cemented themselves as a true monster in the world of animated filmmaking. Their marquee franchise is Despicable Me, which recently became the highest-grossing animated series of all-time, but they have found other hits as well. Last year, The Secret Life of Pets went on to become one of the biggest movies of the year and, as such, we are getting a sequel. The studio has officially announced that The Secret Life of Pets 2 is going to arrive in theaters on June 7, 2019.

Deadline reports that Universal has locked down the prime summer 2019 release for The Secret Life of Pets 2. Originally, the sequel was slated for July 13, 2018, but that was bumped back to July 3, 2019. Now they've decided to move that up by a month to the new June 7, 2019, release date.

The Secret Life of Pets centered on Max (Louis C.K.), who is a spoiled terrier who enjoys a comfortable life in a New York building until his owner adopts Duke (Eric Stonestreet), a giant and unruly canine. During a walk outside, they encounter a group of ferocious alley cats and wind up in a truck that's bound for the pound. They are saved by a rebellious bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart). In exchange, Snowball demands that Max and Duke join his gang of abandoned pets on a mission against the humans who've done them wrong. The movie becomes a wacky, city-sprawling adventure.

The trailers for The Secret Life of Pets pretty much promised Toy Story but with pets. The movie didn't totally deliver on that promise, so maybe the sequel can manage to do just that. As it stands, Chris Renaud is going to return to direct and writer Brian Lynch will be back to write the script. There is no confirmation on returning cast yet, but it seems more than likely that the core cast members will be back to reprise their respective roles. Considering that The Secret Life of Pets grossed $875.4 million worldwide, they are probably going to want to keep many of the same pieces in play. That is nearly as much as Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice made last year, but it did so on roughly one-third the budget.

In its new release date, The Secret Life of Pets 2 will have some potentially stiff competition. Sony's reboot of Charlie's Angels is also set to come out on that day, but it is possible that movie could shift as there haven't been any new developments recently. Fox also has a currently untitled Marvel movie coming out that day, which could be a new X-Men movie or the long-awaited X-Force spin-off. That could prove to be a serious showdown. It will be interesting to see if any of the studios decided to move off the date to make room and not shoot themselves in the foot by overcrowding that weekend.