‘Spider-Verse’ Co-Director Bob Persichetti Helming DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Puss In Boots 2’

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Bob Persichetti has been signed to direct the sequel for DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots, according to a report by Deadline.

The news comes fresh off of his Oscar win for the animated Sony feature alongside co-directors Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Animation veteran Persichetti, who has worked in various roles in the industry in a career spanning more than two decades, served as the Head of Story and voiced a role in the original Puss in Boots.

The follow-up to the 2011 hit film that garnered an Oscar nomination and grossed more than $550 million globally, Puss In Boots 2is currently in development, with a release date yet to be announced. The project, which will be animated at the studio’s Glendale campus, is being overseen by Latifa Ouaou, who was a producer on the original Puss in Boots movie and will reportedly work closely with the DWA leadership team.

A spinoff of the studio’s blockbuster Shrek franchise, Puss in Boots received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature in 2012. Voiced by Antonio Banderas, the character, which first appeared in Shrek 2, was included in subsequent Shrek sequels and shorts. Alongside Banderas, Puss in Boots also starred Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws, Zach Galifianakis as Humpty Alexander Dumpty, Billy Bob Thorton as Jack, Amy Sedaris as Jill, and Constance Marie as Imelda.

DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the first film to be released by distributor Universal Pictures, arrived in U.S. theaters last week, opening in first place with a series best of $55.5 million for its domestic debut.