Edward Norton, Michael Cera, Nick Kroll and David Krumholtz will also lend their voices to the raunchy animated comedy

The gang behind “This Is the End” is getting back together again, as the comedic quintet of Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and David Krumholtz will lead the voice cast of the raunchy animated movie “Sausage Party” along with Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton and Nick Kroll, TheWrap has learned.

Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan are directing the R-rated animated comedy for Sony Pictures and Annapurna Pictures. Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the script with Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir.

Annapurna’s Megan Ellison will produce with Rogen and Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures, as well as Vernon. Point Grey’s James Weaver will executive produce with Hill, Hunter and Shaffir.

“Sausage Party” follows one heroic piece of meat’s quest to discover the truth about his existence. After falling out of a shopping cart, the sausage protagonist teams up with some new friends to embark on a perilous journey through the supermarket and return to their aisles before the Fourth of July sale.

The Point Grey principals packaged the project before presenting it to Sony, which subsequently agreed to co-finance the film with Annapurna. Hannah Minghella and Andrea Giannetti will oversee “Sausage Party” for Sony, while David Distenfeld will oversee the project for Annapurna.

Vancouver-based Nitrogen Studios Canada will handle all CG animation, design, production and post-production on the film, which Sony will release in 2015.

The eight actors comprise a hilarious ensemble that should ensure the adult audience shows up to support an animated movie in theaters.

WME reps Hill and Kroll, who are respectively managed by LBI Entertainment and Mosaic. UTA reps Rogen and Wiig, who are respectively managed by Principal Entertainment LA and Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment. UTA also represents Norton, who recently followed agent Brian Swardstrom from WME. Cera is repped by ICM Partners and Thruline Entertainment, while Krumholtz is repped by the Gersh Agency and Untitled Entertainment. Franco is represented by CAA.

Sony has released the first image from SAUSAGE PARTY, and it's also been announced that a work-in-progress cut of the R-rated animated flick will screen at this year's SXSW ahead of its August theatrical release. Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan co-directed the comedy from a script by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, with Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir also contributing.

The movie boasts a cast that includes frequent Rogen and Goldberg collaborators James Franco, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Michael Cera, Bill Hader and Danny McBride, and Edward Norton and Salma Hayek also lent their voices to the project. Last year Rogen said the film, which will feature original music by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST), is "really, really, really dirty, but it looks like a Pixar movie."



Synopsis:

Sausage Party is a raunchy animated movie about one sausage’s quest to discover the truth about his existence. After falling out of a shopping cart, our hero sausage and his new friends embark on a perilous journey through the supermarket to get back to their aisles before the 4th of July sale.

SAUSAGE PARTY will be in theaters on August 12, 2016.