Mr. Grinch puts his diabolical plot to steal Christmas in motion in the final trailer and poster for Illumination Entertainment's The Grinch.

A feature-length animated version of Dr. Seuss' classic book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Grinch is the latest project from the minds behind Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets and Minions. It's also the second Seuss adaptation from Illumination overall, after the release of The Lorax in 2012. The studio once intended to adapt the author's The Cat in the Hat too, but has since abandoned those plans and is now focusing on developing more sequels to its original hits... among other things.

Illumination has been steadily promoting their new Seuss adaptation for much of this year, starting with The Grinch Winter Olympics promo back in February. It has since released a teaser trailer, a pair of U.S. trailers and even more international previews to boot. The (probably) final trailer and poster for The Grinch have now been unveiled, as you can see in the space below.


Benedict Cumberbatch lends his voice to The Grinch for Illumination's adaptation, after Boris Karloff voiced him during the famous 1966 TV special and Jim Carrey brought him to life in Ron Howard's live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000. By and large, however, the curmudgeonly character and his plan to steal Christmas from his extra-festive neighbors in Who-ville has remained unchanged, throughout these different retellings.

What has varied from version to version is the tone, humor and how young Cindy-Lou Who fits into the story. The Grinch trailers have been filled with Illumination's now-familiar brand of slapstick comedy and sight gags - suggesting the actual film will feel very much like a chip off the same block as Despicable Me and Minions. However, the movie also includes a subplot where Cindy-Lou plots to meet Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and thank him for helping her overworked single mom... unaware of what The Grinch is planning to do.

The final trailer and poster, like their predecessors, leaves out Cindy-Lou and her storyline in order to keep the marketing focused on the Grinch's Christmas-stealing hijinks. Still, Illumination's best films have always managed to combine tender moments with zany shenanigans and characters, so the hope is that Cindy-Lou will ultimately provide the former here. If not, well, then audiences better get ready for even more Grinch-related jokes than they've gotten already.

The Grinch/How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2018) release date: Nov 09, 2018