Smallfoot (film)

Smallfoot is a 2018 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure film produced by the Warner Animation Group. Based on the book Yeti Tracks by Sergio Pablos, the film was co-written and directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, and stars the voices of Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Danny DeVito, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, and Jimmy Tatro. The plot follows a group of Yeti who come across a human, with each species thinking the other was just a myth.

Smallfoot was theatrically released in the United States on September 28, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received a moderately positive reception from critics and has grossed over $169 million worldwide.

Plot
Yetis live in on the top of a mountain in the Himalayas, Nepal, above the clouds and hidden away from sight. Migo is a yeti who abides by the law of the ancient stones held by the Stonekeeper, the yetis' leader. Migo's father, Dorgle, projects himself through the air each morning to ring the gong with his head so that the sun can pass over the sky. While learning how to ring the gong, Migo gets distracted by the Stonekeeper's daughter, Meechee, whom he loves, and misses the gong and lands outside the village. There, Migo witnesses a plane crash and finds a "smallfoot" (human), whom the yetis have taken for being legends. Migo runs back to tell the villagers what he saw, but has no proof. The Stonekeeper banishes him from the village.

Migo is suddenly visited by Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem who bring him to the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society (S.E.S.), which is led by Meechee. She convinces Migo to go along with their plan of going below the clouds despite the stones telling them that there is nothing underneath. After some hesitation, Migo agrees to go, but the rope he is tied to snaps and Migo falls through the clouds where he discovers land underneath.

Percy Patterson is a wildlife documentary filmmaker who has lost his integrity. He meets the pilot who saw the yeti, and in a desperate attempt to regain his fame tries to convince his assistant, Brenda, to dress up as a yeti so that they can film their exploits, but she abandons him instead. Migo arrives at the local pub and unknowingly scares Percy when trying to communicate with him.

Migo takes Percy with him and they stop in a cave to wait out a blizzard. While chasing after Percy, Migo gets his toe caught in a bear trap and Percy takes pity on him by removing the trap and bandaging Migo's wound with duct tape. Migo finally manages to get through to Percy, who agrees to go with him and they head back up the mountain, where they are reunited with the S.E.S. The village is confused by Percy's appearance, but happily accept him and learn about his culture; much to Stonekeeper's dismay. Afterwards, Stonekeeper takes Migo inside the palace and reveals the truth to him: yetis used to live below the clouds, but were forced away by the humans who attacked them. To keep them safe, they created the stones. In order to protect the village, Migo agrees to keep up the lie by telling the yetis that Percy, who is beginning to experience high altitude sickness, is just a hairless wild yak. Stonekeeper takes Percy and locks him in a box, so Percy can get more ill. Migo later discovers that Meechee took Percy away to return him home. Migo jumps down the mountain with Gwangi and Kolka, following suit.

After dropping off Percy, Meechee becomes distracted by the wonders in the city and begins to accidentally cause a disruption. Meechee is attacked by the police, but is rescued by Gwangi, Kolka and Migo. The yetis try to make it back to the mountain, but are chased by a SWAT helicopter that is taken down by the Stonekeeper using his stones. Aside from Migo, the yetis escape to safety. Afterwards, Percy arrives on his snowmobile and reluctantly shoots Migo with a tranquilizer gun to save him. The police chase what they think is Migo (actually Percy in disguise). When the police capture him, they see it is Percy. Percy is arrested for public disturbance and fraud.

Back at the village, inside the palace, Migo and Stonekeeper explain the truth to the yetis while Migo apologizes for lying to them. Migo tells the others that even though humans may still be scared of the yetis, they should still try to communicate with them. The yetis leave the village and are confronted by the police. Percy, out performing community service, and Brenda emerge from the crowd and stand up for the yetis. The rest of the humans slowly welcome the yetis and accept them into their lives.

Production
Writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa conceived of Smallfoot, interested in a story about Yeti or Bigfoot; they drew inspiration from the book Yeti Tracks by Sergio Pablos.

The concept for Smallfoot was in development before director Karey Kirkpatrick joined the project in July 2016; he viewed an animatic in which Percy was a "ski bum type". Kirkpatrick also said Meechee was undeveloped, and she was made head of the S.E.S. in rewrites. Observing Brexit and a rise in nationalism, Kirkpatrick also drew inspiration: "Truth was under attack ... certainly phrases like alternative facts were being thrown around. So, it became an age of misinformation fueled by agendas that are often fueled by fear. And like, 'I want this result, and so I am skewing the truth.' That is just in the zeitgeist."

On May 11, 2017, it was announced that the film was in-production with Channing Tatum, Zendaya, and Gina Rodriguez providing the lead voice roles. The film was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, who had also provided animation for the Warner Animation Group's Storks. Ryan O'Loughlin, a DreamWorks Animation veteran, was originally the film's director, but was replaced by Kirkpatrick.

Music
The music for the film was composed by Heitor Pereira. The songs were written by Karey Kirkpatrick and his brother, Wayne.

The songs include "Perfection" by Channing Tatum, "Wonderful Life" by Zendaya, "Percy's Pressure" by James Corden (music from the song "Under Pressure", additional lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick), "Wonderful Questions" by Tatum & Zendaya, "Let It Lie" by Common, "Moment of Truth" by CYN, and "Finally Free" by Niall Horan.

Release
The film was released on September 28, 2018.

Marketing
The first trailer was released on April 24, 2018.

In late summer 2018, American pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese's announced that they will be the official partner of the film. Marketing materials for the film, in particular a series of posters in Los Angeles advertising the cast of the film with phrases such as "Zendaya is Meechee", turned into a minor Internet meme.

Home media
Smallfoot will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra and Digital Copy on December 11, 2018.

Box office
, Smallfoot has grossed $74.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $94.9 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $169.2 million.

In the United States and Canada, Smallfoot was released alongside Night School, Little Women and Hell Fest, and was projected to gross $25–30 million from 4,131 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $6.5 million on its first day, including $850,000 from Thursday night previews, more than the Warner Animation Group's previous September release Storks ($435,000 in 2016). It went on to debut to $23 million, finishing second at the box office behind Night School. It made $14.3 million in its second weekend and $9.1 million in its third, dropping 37% each time and finishing third and fifth, respectively.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Smallfoot offers a colorful distraction that should keep younger viewers entertained - and a story whose message might even resonate with older audiences." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Future
Writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have expressed hope for a sequel, with Requa stating that they "could make a whole other movie just on that shtick that we came up with." Ficarra added "Hopefully we are lucky enough to be in that position. But you have to wait for the world to digest it to a certain extent... We have a myriad of ideas. Just in the discarded notions that we have entertained over the last 6 years."