‘Spider-Verse’ Director Bob Persichetti Will Helm ‘Puss In Boots 2’

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Bob Persichetti is heading back to Dreamworks Animation for his next project following his Oscar win this past weekend.

Per a report in Deadline, Persichetti has signed on to direct the sequel to 2011’s Puss in Boots, a box office hit that grossed over $550 million worldwide and received an Oscar nomination for best animated feature. The feline character voiced by Antonio Banderas was first introduced in Shrek 2 and went on to have a regular role in other Shrek sequels and also star in his own Netflix series, The Adventures of Puss in Boots.

Persichetti, an industry veteran who started at Disney back when they did hand-drawn animation in the 1990s, is no stranger to the world of Puss in Boots. He was head of story on the original film, and also voiced the film’s Ohhh Cat.

Illumination’s Latifa Ouaou, who produced the first Puss in Boots, will return in the same role for this new installment, and will oversee development on behalf of producer Chris Meledandri and Illumination, which, like DWA, is a subsidiary of Comcast-NBCUniversal.

Last weekend, Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the franchise’s third and final installment, debuted atop of the U.S. box office grossing $55 million, which is not only a franchise-best launch but also the biggest opening of the year so far — animated or otherwise.

Dreamworks hasn’t dated Puss in Boots 2 yet, but has confirmed that production will take place at its Glendale, California campus.

Persichetti is repped by UTA.