This article is about the franchise. For the original video game, seeAngry Birds (video game)."Telepod" redirects here. For the fictional teleportation technology, seeThe Fly (1986 film).
Angry Birds is avideo game series andmedia franchise created by Finnish game designer Jaakko Iisalo and owned byRovio Entertainment, a subsidiary ofSega. The franchise primarily follows a flock ofanthropomorphic flightless birds as they defend their nest of eggs from a species of green rotund pigs. A majority of theAngry Birds video games arepuzzle games developed by Rovio and released formobile devices, while other games andspinoffs have been developed by other studios and are in other genres such asracing,role-playing, andtile-matching. The franchise also includes other media such as merchandise, theme parks, television, and feature films.
The first game in the series,Angry Birds, was developed and released in 2009. After its success saved Rovio frombankruptcy,Angry Birds became their flagship franchise. Several puzzle successors followed, with the first spinoff,Bad Piggies, releasing in 2012. The first media adaptation, television seriesAngry Birds Toons, premiered in 2013. A theatrical film,The Angry Birds Movie, was released in 2016, followed by a sequel,The Angry Birds Movie 2, in 2019. A third film,The Angry Birds Movie 3, is scheduled for 2026.
Following the game's success, Rovio Entertainment released its first successor, titledAngry Birds Halloween, exclusively foriOS on 21 October 2010.[3] The game was later renamed toAngry Birds Seasons and was ported to Android devices in December 2010 alongside aChristmas-themedupdate.[4] Multiple otherAngry Birds titles would followSeasons. In 2011, atie-in with the filmRio, titledAngry Birds Rio, was developed by Rovio and released on 22 March. Following its release,The Independent reported thatAngry Birds Rio had "the biggest launch ever for Rovio".[5]Rio is the first of numerousAngry Birds crossovers, being followed byAngry Birds Star Wars (2012) andAngry Birds Transformers (2014).[6] The series' firstspin-off, a game titledBad Piggies starring the pigs, was released on 27 September 2012.[7]
The video games received their first media adaptation in 2013 with the premiere of the animated television seriesAngry Birds Toons on 13 March.[8] Following the series' announcement in 2012, head of animation Nick Dorra also confirmed that afeature film was in production, but would not release until after 2014.[9] Rovio later announced two other animated series—Piggy Tales andAngry Birds Stella—alongside a second season ofAngry Birds Toons, which were all released in 2014.[10]
On 16 July 2015, Rovio announced a direct sequel to the originalAngry Birds game, titledAngry Birds 2, which was slated for a full release on 30 July.[11] Following the sequel, theteaser trailer forThe Angry Birds Movie was released,[12] receiving negative reception.[13]The Angry Birds Movie was released in theatres bySony Pictures Releasing on 20 May 2016.[14] Atie-in prequel game featuringaugmented reality gameplay and the film's character designs, titledAngry Birds Action!, was released for mobile devices in 2016 to promote the film's release.[15][16][17] The following year, in 2017, a sequel toThe Angry Birds Movie was announced, scheduled for a theatrical release on 20 September 2019.[18][19]
In 2019, several early games from the franchise—such asAngry Birds andAngry Birds Seasons—were delisted fromapp stores due to Rovio being unable toupdate them to match modern standards.[20] This resulted in negative backlash, to which Rovio responded by announcingremakes of the discontinued titles.[21] The first of these remakes,Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, was developed by Rovio using theUnity game engine and was released foriOS andAndroid on 31 March 2022.[22] In February 2023, however, the remake was delisted fromGoogle Play, whilst being renamed toRed's First Flight on theApp Store.[23] This was due to the remake having a negative impact on otherAngry Birds games by being prioritised over them in search results.[24]
As of 11 December 2024[update], theAngry Birds series has received over twenty instalments. This includes several follow-ups,spinoffs, andcrossovers with other franchises.[6]
From 2011 to 2017,Angry Birds collaborated with many other companies and released variations of the original game in the respective collaborators' theme. Most of them wereFlash-based, and all of them featured exclusive levels and elements that aided in promotion.
Early on in the franchise's history, Rovio investigated ways to expand theAngry Birds brand, including merchandise, television shows and films. In 2010, Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Entertainment, envisioned a feature film in thestop-motion animation style reminiscent ofAardman Animations, famous for theWallace & Gromit franchise.[46] To that end, Rovio acquired aHelsinki-based animation studio to prepareAngry Birds short cartoons on for Nickelodeon Extra,[47][48] the first of which was a Christmas special named "Wreck the Halls" that debuted in December 2011.[49] He acknowledged that such a film would be years away, and that Rovio must keep the characters relevant until then, by producing sequels and new adaptations of the game.[46]
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Angry Birds Toons, a TV series based on the game, made its debut on 16 March 2013.Angry Birds Toons was released through third-party video distribution platforms, including Comcast's Xfinity On-Demand in the US, Samsung Smart TVs, and Roku set-top boxes. It is also available in a number of countries on traditional television broadcasts.Angry Birds Toons is still accessible on mobile devices by an additionalAngry Birds Toons channel on all of theAngry Birds apps homescreens.[50] The DVD versions of the TV series were released bySony Pictures Home Entertainment. The series has a total of 3 seasons.
On 11 April 2014, Rovio releasedPiggy Tales, a stop motion animated series. It tells the stories of the Minion Pigs' life.[citation needed]
On 1 November 2014, Rovio releasedAngry Birds Stella, an animated series telling the stories of Stella's life and that of her friends on their own island.[citation needed]
On 12 July 2015,Real Angry Birds, inspired by the gameAngry Birds, premiered onNat Geo Wild.[citation needed]
In 2016, Rovio releasedFun Game Coding, anothereducational live-action-animated series, containing insightful instructions from tech-savvy Rovio employees.[citation needed]
On 10 March 2017, Rovio releasedAngry Birds Blues, an animated series based onThe Angry Birds Movie. It shows the lives of the Blues having fun, while the Hatchlings were doing random stuff and ruining their plans.[citation needed]
On 3 July 2017,Netflix andKidsClick picked up everyAngry Birds Toons,Angry Birds Stella, andPiggy Tales episode in the form of 23 compilations.[citation needed]
On 1 June 2018, U.S. television production company Big Fish Entertainment announced that they would be partnering with Rovio to create a game show based onAngry Birds currently[when?] calledAngry Birds Challenge.[51]
On 9 June 2018, a series titledAngry Birds BirLd Cup was released onYouTube. It follows two teams (Team Red and Team Chuck) of rambunctious kids ready to put their soccer skills to the test. With Everton starsWayne Rooney,Dominic Calvert-Lewin,Tom Davies, andCenk Tosun on hand to lend their expertise and officiate the competition, the two teams will go head to head in a series of soccer-centric challenges to earn points. The team that scores the most points will claim the illustrious BirLd Cup, and BirLdwide acclaim.[52]
On 3 October 2018, a short, three-episode series titledAngry Birds Zero Gravity was released on YouTube.[53]
On 17 November 2018, a series titledAngry Birds on the Run was released on YouTube. The series focuses on the birds being sent to the real world from a girl's phone, causing mayhem while the pigs are looking for them.[citation needed]
In late 2018, Rovio announced that a new, long-formAngry Birds television series titledAngry Birds: Summer Madness is in production and was originally set for release in 2021 on Netflix.[54] It was pushed and was released in January 2022.[55] It focuses on Red, Stella, Bomb, and Chuck as teenagers insummer camp causing mayhem with their teacher being the Mighty Eagle.
On 1 June 2019, a series titledAngry Birds MakerSpace was released on YouTube.[56] It features the birds and pigs working together in a shared workspace.
On 18 January 2020, a series titledAngry Birds Slingshot Stories was released on YouTube.[57] It features structures from the originalAngry Birds game and shows the birds and pigs' life outside the levels.
On 31 August 2020, a new series titledAngry Birds Bubble Trouble was released on Amazon Freetime Unlimited and YouTube. It shows Red, Chuck, Bomb, Silver, and Stella in theirDream Blast designs having fun and dreaming.
On 6 June 2023, a new long-form television series titledAngry Birds Mystery Island was announced, which was released onAmazon Prime Video and Amazon Kids+ on 21 May 2024. The series focus on a new group of Hatchlings, trying to survive on an uncharted island.[58]
There have been several toys made fromAngry Birds characters.[46] The game's official website offersstuffed plush versions of the birds and pigs for sale, along with T-shirts featuring the game's logo and characters.[71] In May 2011,Mattel released anAngry Birds board game, titled "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood".[72] Over 10 millionAngry Birds toys have been sold thus far.[47] Rovio opened the first officialAngry Birds retail store in Helsinki on 11 November 2011 at 11:11 a.m. local time.[73] It expects to open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's fastest-growing market.[73] Merchandise has been successful, with 45% of Rovio's revenues in 2012 coming from branded merchandise.[74]
The most notableAngry Birds toy line is Telepods, manufactured byHasbro. Originally created forAngry Birds Star Wars II,[75]Angry Birds Go!,Angry Birds Stella, andAngry Birds Transformers.[76] Telepods are a series oftoys-to-life figures using a similar digital toy hybrid concept asSkylanders orDisney Infinity characters.[77] These are figures used to "teleport" a character of the corresponding figure into the game by scanning a miniatureQR code via the device's camera. The Telepod platform technology was invented by ReToy, a bMuse company, in partnership with Hasbro.[78]
In 2012,Mattel producedHot Wheels cars based onAngry Birds characters: Red, the Blues, Chuck, and a Minion Pig.[citation needed]
In 2011, Rovio published a cookbook titledBad Piggies: Egg Recipes which was filled with egg recipes, along with doodle books based on some characters of the game. After a few weeks of the release ofAngry Birds Space, they also releasedAngry Birds Space-themed books about numbers, alphabets, and stickers.[citation needed]
On 20 March 2012,National Geographic published a paperback book titledAngry Birds Space: A Furious Flight Into The Final Frontier[80][81] shortly before the release ofAngry Birds Space which became available on 22 March 2012. National Geographic also has a book titledAngry Birds Feathered Fun for learning all about birds.[82]
In the same year, Rovio created a contest with the prizeAngry Birds: Hatching a Universe, a book about the franchise and all the characters. It was released for sale by Titan Books on 24 May 2013;[83] And again by Insight Editions on 4 June 2013.[84] The book was written by Danny Gordon with a foreword by Mikael Hed.[citation needed]
As of 10 March 2014,IDW Publishing announced[85] that they will be publishing Angry Birds Comics starting in June 2014, with Paul Tobin being the writer.[86]
In the summer of 2017,GoComics announced that it would be running acomic strip series based on the world ofThe Angry Birds Movie, with each issue available to view on its website.[87] The strip ran for over a year, from 3 August 2017 to 20 September 2018.[citation needed]
In early 2012,Olvi started to manufacture Angry Birdssoft drinks, after licensing with Rovio[88] with two different tastes:Tropic (tropical fruits)[88] andParadise (pineapple-mandarin).[88] In September 2012 Olvi released two new tastes to the soft drink collection:Lagoon (pear-apple) andSpace Comet (orange-cola).[89][90]
The game's characters have been used, officially or otherwise, in amusement park attractions. In September 2011, theWindow of the World theme park inChangsha, China opened an unlicensedAngry Birds attraction.[91] Visitors to the park use a large slingshot to launch stuffed versions of the bird characters at green balloons that represent the pigs.[91]
Upon learning of the attraction, Rovio Entertainment was reported to be considering working with the theme park to officially license it.[73] In March 2012, Rovio announced plans for an officialAngry Birds Land, that opened on 28 April 2012, at theSärkänniemi adventure park in Finland.[92] Angry Birds Land opened in May 2014 at Johor Bahru City Centre in Malaysia.[93]
The first Angry Birds themed park in the UK was created in Sundown Adventureland, in the Nottinghamshire countryside.[94]
It was announced that UK theme parkThorpe Park would open their own Angry Birds Land themed area within the park, opening in May 2014, with a4D cinema showing a 10-minuteAngry Birds film with 4D effects, and a slight re-theme of existing drop tower rideDetonator.[95] This Angry Birds Land operated until the end of the 2023 season, being rebranded for the 2024 season.[96]
Rovio opened "Activity Parks" of the game. The first one opened inLightwater Valley, England, with dance floors, playgrounds that include slides, and touchscreen devices for visitors to play Angry Birds.[citation needed] The attraction also opened inVuokatti, Finland, with obstacle courses and races,[97] and a separate "Angry Birds Town" with kids' cars.
A park opened in Malaysia, but closed after six years on 5 April 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[98]
According toreview aggregator websiteMetacritic, four games in the franchise received a score of 80% and above, while the other games received scores below 60%.
On Christmas Day 2011 alone, 6.5million copies of the variousAngry Birds games were downloaded across all supported platforms.[123] In 2012, Matt Brian fromThe Next Web reported that players logged more than 300million minutes of game time daily across all platforms, with the series having 200 million monthlyactive users, as of May 2012.[124] By January 2014, theAngry Birds series had reached 4billion downloads, includingAngry Birds,Angry Birds Seasons,Rio,Space,Star Wars,Star WarsII, andGo![125]
Angry Birds and its characters have been featured in advertisements for other products. In March 2011, the characters began appearing in a series of advertisements for Microsoft'sBing search engine.[139] At the 2011South by Southwest festival inAustin, Texas, Nokia usedscrims on a downtown building to project an advertisement for its newN8 handset that included the game's characters.[140] A June 2011T-Mobile advertisement filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city plaza,[141] while Nokia used the game inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people playing a single mobile game.[142]Finnair has also used Angry Birds in their advertising, including taping anAirbus A340 airliner with the Angry Birds figures and holding an Angry Birds tournament on board a flight to Singapore.[143] Rovio has also prepared a number of web-based promotional variants ofAngry Birds themed around creations of other companies, such as Finnish snack company Fazer,[144] Spanish pizza delivery chain Telepizza,[145] and Japanese television networkFuji TV,[146] as well as promotions of American brands including Cheetos,[147]Wonderful Pistachios[148] andCoca-Cola.[149] In November 2013, Indian brandParle started a marketing campaign in which a trading card is included in each packet of Parle's Wafers and it included a related contest to win Angry Birds merchandise.[150] In February 2016,Cadbury India had Angry Birds small figurines or tattoos in Cadbury Gems packs or Surprise balls.[151] In June 2016,Kurkure India started an offer to win daily themed prizes and a trip to Angry Birds Activity Park in Malaysia.[152]
Hockey VM mascotKovalainen wearing an Angry Birds-themed helmet at the2012 Malaysian Grand PrixAngry Birds logo onEverton shirt sleeves
FinnishFormula One driver Heikki Kovalainen used an Angry Birds-themed helmet in the2012 season, following a sponsorship deal with Rovio. Angry Birds also sponsored theLotus F1 Team that year, with its logo on the top of each Lotus Renault F1 car's nosecone. As part of the deal, fellow FinnKimi Räikkönen ran an Angry Birds 'Space' logo on his branded caps.[153]
The game's popularity has spawned knock-off and parody games that utilize the same basic mechanics asAngry Birds. For example,Angry Turds features monkeys hurling feces and other objects at hunters who have stolen their babies.[156] Another game, titledChicks'n'Vixens and released in beta form on Windows Phone devices, replaces the birds and pigs with chickens and foxes, respectively.[157] The developer ofChicks'n'Vixens intended the game as a challenge to Rovio Mobile, which stated at the time that a Windows Phone port ofAngry Birds would not be ready until later in 2011.[157] TheAngry Birds theme song (Balkan Blast Remix) and its characters appear inJust Dance 2016.[158]
Angry Birds has inspired works of religious analogy. A five-part essay titled "Angry Birds Yoga — How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" was written by Giridhari Dasa of theInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness of Brazil, utilizing the characters and gameplay mechanics to explain various concepts ofyoga inGaudiya Vaishnavism as understood and interpreted by the Hare Krishna.[159][160][161][162][163] The piece attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of philosophico-religious presentation.[164][165][166][167] The piece was also recognized and appreciated by Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka, who was prompted to comment on Twitter, "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga becoming a worldwide craze;-)".[159]
Rovio also launched the Angry Birds Playground in partnership withUniversity of Helsinki. Based on the Finnish national curriculum the program covers maths, science, music, language, arts & crafts, physical education and social interaction. Focused on preschoolers of kindergarten age, the program introduced interactive learning material including books, posters, games and digital content.[168] In 2015, a spin-off from the Rovio Angry Birds Playground was established asFun Academy by co-founder and CEO Sanna Lukander, former Rovio's vice president of learning and book publishing, and co-founderPeter Vesterbacka [fi], former Rovio's 'Mighty Eagle'.[169] Fun Academy is currently[when?] present in 9 countries across the world.[citation needed]
During theGaza war, graphic ads supporting Israel showed up inAngry Birds and other video games for children. TheIsraeli Foreign Ministry said it had instructed advertisers to block the ads for viewers under the age of 18. Rovio subsequently banned the ads manually.[170]
In January 2014, it was revealed thatAngry Birds was considered a "leaky app" and was used to collect data about its users including their sexual orientation and location by theNational Security Agency (NSA) andGCHQ. In retaliation, anti-NSA hackers defaced Rovio's website. Claims were made byEdward Snowden that the app wasleaky and that they were capable ofsiphoning data.
According toThe Register, the information was leaked through the in-game advertisement code like that embedded byMillennial Media: "Millennial's tracking software generates a personal record for each user that can store information from their political affiliation and sexual orientation to whether their marital state was single, married, divorced, engaged or 'swinger'. This information is used to target in-app ads more effectively, and can be collected by UK and US intelligence agencies for analysis."[171] In a statement to the press, Rovio denied that they were providing any information to the intelligence agencies, but did not exclude the possibility that their advertisers might do so.[172]
Following this revelation, on 29 January, the Angry Birds site was defaced by hackers who replaced it with "Spying Birds" via aDNS hijacking attack. According to Rovio, "The defacement was caught in minutes and corrected immediately".[172] TheSyrian Electronic Army tweeted after the incident that the attack had been carried out by "a friend" of theirs.[173]
^Conan O'Brien (host) (15 December 2010).Conan's Message to Finland (Television production). TBS. Event occurs at 1:38.Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved21 December 2010.
^Nick Wingfield (30 November 2010)."Why We Can't Stop Playing".The Wall Street Journal.Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved27 March 2011.
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