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The 2020s have been a great decade so far for animated movies on Netflix. There is, of course, KPop Demon Hunters, which has broken multiple records, won Oscars and Grammys, and become the streamer’s most-watched movie of all time by a wide margin, with a sequel on the way. But it’s not all KPop: from Nimona to The Sea Beast, and Over the Moon to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Leo, and most recently, its latest smash-hit Swapped, it’s delivered a varied range of stellar releases in the medium.
Well worth a mention among the best of Netflix’s animated movies is The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which perhaps gets a little forgotten about since it was released back in 2021 (and when you factor in the Covid time distortion, that might as well be a decade ago), but it’s an absolute gem. It follows the Mitchell family saving Earth from a robot uprising, and while a sequel was first talked about at the time and officially confirmed in 2025, there haven’t been many updates on it. Now, courtesy of What’s On Netflix, we know the working title is reportedly The Mitchells vs. the Mitchells, and have the following story tease:
“While the first film saw the Mitchells, a fairly mild-mannered American family, take on the robot apocalypse, the sequel sees them encounter something even stranger and more dangerous … themselves.”
The Mitchells Vs. The Machines 2 Is One Of Several Exciting Upcoming Netflix Animated Movies
The description for The Mitchells vs. the Machines 2 is an exciting one. The first movie saw the family having to deal with their own dysfunctions and come together to face the robots, so it nicely builds on that story to have the new threat be themselves in some way. It’s unclear exactly what that means, but it’s possible it could be machines designed as the family, or even that we’re getting a multiverse story. If it is the latter, it’s in good hands: among the executive producers are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who’ve also worked on the Spider-Verse movies.
The sequel is also just one of several upcoming movies that highlight it’s an exciting time for animation on the streamer, which clearly recognizes the value of the medium and its broad appeal (which, to be fair, would be impossible not to after KPop Demon Hunters‘ success). Among the movies on the docket for 2026 are: I Am Frankelda, a stop-motion dark fantasy; Steps, which puts the focus on Cinderella’s evil stepsisters (voiced by Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu, with Amanda Seyfried as Cinderella); and Ray Gunn, a retro-futuristic detective story from the great Brad Bird (The Incredibles).
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Looking further ahead, some of the other big-hitters on the horizon include a new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie starring Taika Waititi, and a Ghostbusters movie. Leo and The Sea Beast are also among the Netflix original animated movies expected to get sequels. Animation takes a long time, so it’s going to be a few years before we get to see The Mitchells vs. the Machines 2, but if it’s as creative, fun, and gorgeously animated as the first movie (which really deserves to be talked about in the same breath as the Spider-Verse films and KPop Demon Hunters), then it’ll be well worth the wait.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is available to stream now on Netflix.
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