Benedict Cumberbatch will voice The Grinch in new animated film

Step aside, Jim Carrey - there's a new green humbug in town

(Getty)

Whether or not you're a firm believer that Jim Carrey's incarnation of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas errs on the side of brilliant, nobody seemed to expect Universal's upcoming animated version of the Dr. Seuss classic rival that Ron Howard version released back in 2000.

Disregard those thoughts: Benedict Cumberbatch has been announced as lead.

The British actor will voice the legendary character in the Universal animation that is set to be released November 2017.

Illumination Entertainment CEO Chris Meledandri announced the news at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday (13 April)

“We were determined to make a [casting] choice that would not only define this version of The Grinch as absolutely singular, but most importantly, we were looking for a voice to express comedic wickedness while embodying vulnerability," he told the audience.

Judging by his past list of credits, Cumberbatch certainly seems the man for the job: he has voice work experience thanks to Penguins of Madagascar and The Hobbit trilogy - the latter of which he starred as both the fearsome Necromancer and dragon Smaug.

The Grinch isn't the only upcoming voice role from the actor, either - he will play Shere Khan in Andy Serkis' Jungle Book (not to be confused with Jon Favreau's new one) due for release in 2018.

His first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe will arrive later this year via Doctor Strange, the ambitious first trailer of which was released earlier this week.

The other notable animated casting announcement made by Meledandri was that South Park's Trey Parker will voice the chief villain in Despicable Me 3.