Angry Birds 3 Gives Red a Full Rebuild
Red has a fresh coat for The Angry Birds Movie 3, and the change runs deeper than a touch-up. DNEG Animation rebuilt much of his fur, facial rig and expressions for the Paramount sequel.
VFX supervisor Patrick Harboun laid out the overhaul at the View Conference in Turin, according to Variety. DNEG took over animation duties from Sony Pictures Animation, which made the first two films. A rig is the digital skeleton animators pull to pose a character.
The restart was part creative, part practical. Proprietary grooming, rigging and surfacing tools from the earlier films could not transfer to DNEG's pipeline, so the team began again. Red emerged with slightly softer plumage and firmer eyes and beak with more toy-like surfaces.
To carry the load, DNEG customised an automated system for character effects, the craft that controls how fur, feathers and skin move and deform. Once animation was approved, the system simulated those elements, rendered a preview and flagged shots that still needed bespoke artist work. Early in production it handled about 25% of shots. Later it reached roughly 75%.
That 75% figure needs context. It covers character-effects processing, not shots animated without artists. Animators still did the acting.
The team also built safety nets to keep the birds intact on screen. One was a second, normally invisible layer of fur that appears when a character stretches, stopping bald patches from opening up. The method grew from DNEG's earlier performance-effects work on The Garfield Movie.
New faces stretched the system further. The film adds more than 20 characters, including Glider voiced by Walker Scobell, June played by Emma Myers, baby Olly voiced by Psalm West and pet spider Fuzzy voiced by James Austin Johnson. Olly needed a fix nicknamed Pancake Eyes. The team duplicated and flattened parts of his facial rig behind his lenses, so his glasses function as animated eyes.
Jason Sudeikis returns to voice Red, with Rachel Bloom as Silver, in a story centred on parenthood. John Rice directs the animated comedy.
Paramount Pictures will release the film in theatres worldwide on 29 January 2027, according to DNEG. Rovio and SEGA are producing, with storyboards, art development and animation handled by DNEG Animation.
What makes this stand out for viewers is feel and finish. The aim is softer, springier feather behaviour in motion, with a cleaner finish held up close.
