The Angry Birds Movie

The Angry Birds Movie (also known as simply Angry Birds and released in the United Kingdom as such) is a 2016 3D computer-animated comedy film based on Rovio Entertainment's video game series of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures and Rovio Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It was directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly in their directorial debuts and written by Jon Vitti. The film features the voices of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage, and Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox.

The Angry Birds Movie was released in the United States on May 20, 2016. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing over $352 million and becoming the second highest-grossing film of all time to be based on a video game. A sequel is scheduled to be released on August 16, 2019.

Plot
A reclusive, temperamental bird named Red lives in a village on Bird Island with other flightless birds. When his temper causes a "premature hatching" of another bird's egg, he is sentenced to take an anger management class. Red’s classmates - Chuck (who is hyperactive and can move at the speed of light) and Bomb (who can cause explosions with his anger and fear) - try to befriend him, but he avoids them.

One day, a boat docks at the island's shore, destroying Red's house. The birds are greeted by green-colored pigs and their captain Leonard, who claim to be peaceful explorers bringing offerings of friendship. The pigs ingratiate themselves with the birds, introducing them to various innovations, notably a giant slingshot, but begin to overwhelm the island with their numbers. Red becomes suspicious.

Red recruits Chuck and Bomb to find Mighty Eagle, the only flying bird and the island's protector, who has not been seen for many years. They find Mighty Eagle on top of Bird Mountain, but he is overweight, self-absorbed, leads the life of a slacker, and refuses to help them. Red discovers the pigs planting dynamite around the island while the other birds are distracted with a rave party, but they arrive too late to sound a warning; the pigs escape with the eggs and activate the dynamite, destroying the village. The other birds apologize to Red for not believing him and, under his leadership, they organize an army and construct a boat from the rubble to follow the pigs to Piggy Island.

The birds discover the pigs living in a walled city ruled by Leonard, whose true name is "King Mudbeard". Deducing the eggs are in the castle at the center of the city, the birds use the slingshot to attack by launching themselves over the walls and into the city's buildings, destroying them. Red, Chuck, and Bomb discover the eggs inside a net being lowered into a giant pot; the pigs are planning to cook and eat them. Mighty Eagle arrives to retrieve Red's group and the eggs, having had a change of heart after witnessing their efforts. One egg falls out of the net and Red battles King Mudbeard for it, but learns to control his anger and distracts him long enough to retrieve the egg. An explosion from Bomb ignites the pigs' reserve of dynamite, but the pot collapses and falls over top of Red, shielding him and the egg from the blast as the city is destroyed.

Red reunites with the other birds as the egg hatches, revealing three small blue birds. Mighty Eagle approaches Red, Chuck, and Bomb, claiming he merely appeared lazy to help them find faith in themselves, and takes credit for saving the eggs. On Bird Island, Red discovers the other birds have rebuilt his house in the center of the village and the rest of the rescued eggs have hatched into chicks, who sing to him in gratitude. Moved, Red allows Chuck and Bomb to move in with him. The pigs are revealed to have survived, with King Mudbeard plotting to steal the birds' eggs again.

In a mid-credits scene, the three blue birds use the slingshot to launch themselves out to ocean.

Cast

 * Jason Sudeikis as Red
 * Aidan McGraw and Kallan Holley as young Red
 * Josh Gad as Chuck
 * Danny McBride as Bomb
 * Maya Rudolph as Matilda, Poppy (uncredited)
 * Bill Hader as Leonard / King Mudbeard
 * Peter Dinklage as Mighty Eagle
 * Kate McKinnon as Stella, Eva
 * Sean Penn as Terence
 * Tony Hale as Ross, Mime, Cyrus
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Judge Peckinpah
 * Blake Shelton as Earl
 * Anthony Padilla as Hal
 * Ian Hecox as Bubbles
 * Charli XCX as Willow
 * Tituss Burgess as Photog
 * Billy Eichner as Chef Pig, Phillip
 * Hannibal Buress as Edward
 * Ike Barinholtz as Tiny
 * Max Charles as Bobby
 * Jillian Bell as Helene, Yoga Instructor
 * Cristela Alonzo as Shirley
 * Danielle Brooks as Monica, Olive
 * Kevin Bigley as Greg
 * Adam Brown as Hug Trader
 * Romeo Santos as Early Bird
 * Geoffrey Arend as Day Care Teacher Bird
 * Ava Acres as Timothy
 * Alex Borstein as Sophie Bird, Peggy Bird
 * Malena Brewer as Arianna Bird
 * Vincent Oswald as Dylan Hatchling
 * Samantha Cohen as Samantha Hatchling
 * Josh Robert Thompson as Brad Bird, Dane the Saxophone Bird
 * Matt McCarthy as Rodney Pig
 * Matt Taylor as Hamilton Pig
 * Ali Wong as Betty Bird
 * Fred Tatasciore as Monty Pig
 * Bella Laudiero as Maya Bird
 * John Cohen as Johnny Bird
 * Clay Kaytis as Clayton the Waiter Bird
 * Fergal Reilly as Foreman Pig
 * Catherine Winder as Billy the Sign
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Earl's 2nd Brother (Uncredited)
 * Pierce Gagnon, Noah Schnapp and Owen Wilder Vaccaro as The Blues
 * Eileen Marra, Indra Raval, Joaquin Raval and Sofie Wolfe as Hatchling Singers

Production
The film was officially announced in December 2012, although IGN noted that this was "after months of speculation". The success of the Angry Birds Toons series, according to Rovio employee Jami Laes, "validated" the idea of creating a feature film. The first image from the film was revealed in October 2014, with Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, and Peter Dinklage as part of its cast. Gad at first declined to star in the movie, feeling it was too similar to his role as Olaf in the 2013 film Frozen but the director eventually convinced him to sign through a 30-minute "visual pitch". The film's budget is estimated at $80 million (€75 million). Rovio and Sony Pictures announced they would spend roughly €100 million for the marketing and distribution of the film, giving it the largest budget in the film industry in Finland, outvaluing Big Game's €8.5 million. Despite the massive budget, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed stated that "it is the one that I don't ever lose any sleep over", calling it "tremendously strong as a story". During August 2015, Rovio announced that they were expecting to cut 250 jobs equaling 40% of the company, the only sector spared being personnel working on the movie.

When multiple major studios approached Rovio to discuss the production of the film adaptation in 2010, Hed eventually decided to have Rovio establish its own in-house animation studio and have it work on the film, rather than risk losing creative control in allowing a third-party studio to produce it. David Maisel, the founding chairman of Marvel Studios, offered to help Hed and Rovio produce the film, as well as John Cohen from Illumination Entertainment and Catherine Winder from Lucasfilm, who later served as the film's producers. Animation services were handled by Sony Pictures Imageworks, making it their first animated film not to be produced by Sony Pictures Animation since Beowulf (2007).

The Angry Birds characters were not depicted in their anthropomorphized cinematic designs until the film's announcement so as to avoid spoiling it for audiences.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack, titled The Angry Birds Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, was released on May 6, 2016.

Track listing
ATCO Records released the score on May 12, 2016.

"Wonderful Life" was replaced in international screenings of the film in English with "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees.

Release
The film was initially scheduled to be released on July 1, 2016, but was later moved forward to May 20. On September 23, 2015, the teaser trailer for the film was released, followed by the second trailer four months later. An international trailer made its debut in March 2016.

The film was released in Finland and the UK on May 13, 2016, and in the United States on May 20, 2016.

Promotion and tie-in games
The film's marketing budget was an estimated $300 million, which along with its production budget was $400 million, the biggest ever for an animated Sony Pictures film. Tie-ins with McDonald's, Citroën, Ziploc, and Panasonic, and a series of six Lego sets were used to promote the film. A balloon themed after Red debuted at the 2015 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

During the film's marketing campaign, the app icons for most Angry Birds games were changed to depict the cinematic version of Red. A series of free-to-play tie-in games were also produced: Angry Birds Action!, Angry Birds Evolution, and Angry Birds Match.

Home media
The Angry Birds Movie was released on digital HD on July 29, 2016, and on Blu-ray and DVD on August 16, 2016, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, with four "Hatchlings" shorts included. The film topped the home video sales chart for the week ending on August 21, 2016.

Box office
The Angry Birds Movie grossed $107.5 million in North America and $244.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $352.3 million. Worldwide, it is the second highest-grossing video game film of all-time behind Warcraft ($433.5 million), and is the most successful Finnish-produced film of all time. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $72 million.

In North America, the film opened on May 20, 2016 alongside Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and The Nice Guys, and was projected to gross between $35–40 million or as high as $45 million from 3,932 theaters in its opening weekend. Deadline noted that the film had the benefit of being the only animated movies in theaters until Finding Dory on June 17. The Angry Birds Movie was the top selling film for the weekend, and grossed $800,000 from Thursday night previews and $11 million on its opening day. In its opening weekend it grossed $38.2 million, finishing first at the box office and marked the third biggest Sony animated opening of all time, behind Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2. It also scored the second-best debut weekend ever for a video game adaptation, behind the $47 million debut of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. It dropped 51% in its second weekend, against X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass, grossing $18.7 million.

Internationally, The Angry Birds Movie was released in the Philippines on May 11 and in 74 other markets (63% of its total marketplace) on May 13, at least one week ahead of its US release. It finished first in 37 territories and second overall at the international box office behind Captain America: Civil War. Benefiting from the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, it grossed $43 million. In its second weekend, it added 9 additional territories including China, South Korea and the Netherlands and grossed $55.5 million from 83 markets. Overall, the top openings for the film was recorded in China ($29.2 million), Russia ($5.7 million), the United Kingdom and Ireland ($3.1 million), Germany ($2.9 million), Mexico ($2.8 million) and Brazil ($2.7 million). It opened next in Italy on June 15 and Japan on October 1.

In terms of total earnings, the biggest markets for the film outside North America are China ($75.8 million), the United Kingdom ($15 million), Russia ($11.99 million), and Germany ($11.97 million).

Critical response
The Angry Birds Movie received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 150 reviews and an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Angry Birds Movie is substantially more entertaining than any film adapted from an app has any right to be – which may or may not be much of an endorsement." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 43 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press gave the film a positive review by writing, "Ultimately, The Angry Birds Movie does a decent job exploring the merits of anger. It's no Inside Out, but it has heart and life, which isn't too shabby for any film – app or not". Variety's Guy Lodge called the film: "A fast, fizzy and frenetically entertaining extension of the manic gaming franchise that, at its zenith, had children of all ages glued to their smartphone screens". While Rafer Guzman of Newsday found the film's plot to be "pretty thin gruel", he thought the script was quite funny and that the animation was brightly colored and appealing.

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing, "The kids of today deserve better. So do I, come to think of it". In his review for TheWrap, Alonso Duralde wrote, "Let's be clear, then: The Angry Birds Movie isn't pointless because it's based on an app. It's pointless because it's pointless". Stephen Whitty of the New York Daily News gave the film one out of five stars, writing, "The Angry Birds Movie is just fowl".

Follow-up media

 * IDW Publishing launched a comic book miniseries, titled Angry Birds: Flight School and situated after the events of the film, on February 22, 2017.
 * Rovio Entertainment has released a new online video miniseries that takes place sometime after the events of the film, titled Angry Birds Blues, and focuses on the mischievous antics of the newborn Blues. The first episode premiered on Toons.TV on March 10, 2017.

Sequel
In August 2016, Rovio had begun working on a sequel to the film. The sequel, titled The Angry Birds Movie 2, is planned for a August 16, 2019 release, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the original video game. It will be directed by Thurop Van Orman and co-directed by John Rice. Cohen will return as a producer, with Peter Ackerman as writer. Sudeikis, Gad, Hader, McBride and Dinklage have been announced to return, with Rachel Bloom, Sterling K. Brown, Eugenio Derbez, Zach Woods, Awkwafina, Lil Rel Howery, Dove Cameron, Beck Bennett, Brooklynn Prince, and Leslie Jones joining the cast.