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Universal Pictures announced Wednesday during a panel at CinemaCon that Cumberbatch would be lending his voice to a new animated movie based on Dr. Seuss' classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cumberbatch is the third actor to play the Grinch in a major motion picture, following Boris Karloff in 1966 and Jim Carrey in Ron Howard's live-action adaptation.
It's not the first time the actor has leant his distinctive voice to a film, either. Cumberbatch voiced the dragon Smaug in Peter Jackson's Hobbit series and has been cast as the menacing tiger Shere Khan in Andy Serkis' Jungle Book, which is due out in 2018. He also has some experience with animated films, including Penguins of Madagascar from a couple of years ago.
Cumberbatch already has a pretty hectic schedule ahead of him, including filming the fourth season of Sherlock and a press tour for Marvel's Doctor Strange.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, directed by Pete Candeland, will roll into theaters Nov. 17, 2017.
