Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where Sony Pictures Animation's hit comedy left off. Inventor Flint Lockwood's genius is finally being recognized as he's invited by his idol Chester V to join The Live Corp Company, where the best and brightest inventors in the world create technologies for the betterment of mankind. Chester's right-hand-gal - and one of his greatest inventions - is Barb (a highly evolved orangutan with a human brain, who is also devious, manipulative and likes to wear lipstick. It's always been Flint's dream to be recognized as a great inventor, but everything changes when he discovers that his most infamous machine (which turns water into food) is still operating and is now creating food-animal hybrids – “foodimals!” With the fate of humanity in his hands, Chester sends Flint and his friends on a dangerously delicious mission, battling hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, apple pie-thons, double bacon cheespiders and other food creatures to save the world again!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 was at Comic-Con to give attendees a taste of what the filmmakers have in store for the sequel. Stars Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Terry Crews, along with directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn talked with the press about the movie and Entertainment Affair was there. Check out highlights from the press conference below.

Pearn and Cameron, who are new to the series, tried to avoid the pitfalls of a typical animated sequel by setting a new tone. “We definitely wanted to find an organic way to grow the characters through not repeating the same kind of ideas we had in the first film. At the very beginning of our process we decided to try a different genre of film. The first film was really a disaster movie where stuff was going to fall on their heads. This is really about what’s in the shadows and sort of playing the monster movie angle.” 

When asked if their characters changed from the first film Faris said, “I think I have a bit more of a crush on Flint than last time.” 

All the actors have done comedic work before. They elaborated on how they convey that into animation form. Farris said the directors were great to work with and they walk you through every single beat. Crews brought lots of energy to his interpretation. “I basically needed to be calmed down. ‘That was a great take, Terry, but you made some much noise we are going to have to do it again’,” he says, “I'm used to very physical action. It was really different for me.”

Recently Emmy nominated Hader elaborated on how he got back into character after being away for a while. “I’m like the opposite of Terry. I feel like I have to have a whole pot of coffee ‘cause I’m so low energy. I thought this was going to be a very easy job, but it’s so hard.” Faris agrees, “It takes a different kind of concentration.” Hader remembers talking to Tom Hanks about voicing a cartoon when he landed the first movie. Tom told him doing “Toy Story” was the hardest thing in the world. “You were in f***ing 'Castaway', dude. He’s like, harder than ‘Castaway’. Yep, harder than all those movies.”

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is in theaters September 27!

Photo credit: SPE,Inc./Eric Charbonneau