With "The Bad Guys 2," Universal hopes for some mid-budget success with families before kids return to school. But for producers DreamWorks Animation, this marks a key step in the company's efforts to build new franchises from the ground up in an entertainment landscape littered with loud and shiny alternatives.

The Bad Guys 2 is warning people against using footage of the movie for AI training in its end credits. The sequel to the 2022 hit movie The Bad Guys was directed by Pierre Perifel. The DreamWorks animated feature came out early in the United Kingdom on July 25.

For a long time, Disney was the undisputed champion when it came to animated movies, but in the 21st century, Dreamworks Animation has gone toe-to-toe with them, establishing franchises like Shrek, Madagascar,